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ODDMENTS 



OF 



ANDEAN DIPLOMACY. 



ODDMENTS 

OF 

Andean Diplomacy; 

AND 

OTHER ODDMENTS; 

Including a proposition for a Double-Track Steel Railway from the 
westerly shores of Hudson Bay to the midway margin of the Strait 
of Magellan ; the two terminal points, measured along the line contem- 
plated, being nearly, if not quite, eight thousand miles apart ; 

Together with an inquiry whether, in view of certain facts of grave 
international and intercontinental poUty and proceedings herein por- 
trayed, the proposed road should not, in all justice and fairness, and 
in conformity with the highest attributes of repubhcan foresight and 
vigilance, be deflected so far away from Brazil as to cut her off entirely 
from its boundless benefits, so long as her antiquated and antagonistic 
system of government remains imperial or otherwise monarchical. 



HiNTON Rowan Helper; 

Formerly of the Blue Ridge Region; 
Now OF THE Mississippi Valley; 

Who has voluntarily and irrevocably emitted from himself, and deposited in 
the Bank ot Commerce, of St. Louis, Missouri, five thousand dollars for five of 
the best attainable Essays, three in Prose and two in Poetry, in promotion of 
the immensely needed and matchlessly grand North and Central and South 
American Longitudinal Railway thus projected. j 

ST. LOUIS : ; j'^'o. ■ '■ ■' " 

W. S. BRYAN, P[/BLISHBJi).f/^ isT^. 

602 North Fourth Street. '''\-, ^^ >/' 

Nrw York: CHAS. T. DILLIXGHAM, 678 Broadway. 

Sax Francisco: A L. BANCROFT & CO.. 721 Market Street. 

Chicago: J. S. GOODMAN, 142 LaSalle Street. 

New Orleans: GEORGE ELLIS, 7 Decatur Street. 

1879. 



-/V^'i 



Copyright, 1879, by H. R. HELPER, 

St. Louis, Missouri. 
Rights of translation reserved. 



Ryan, Jacks & Co., Printers, 

ST. LOUIS. 



Strassburger & Drach, Stereotypers, Becktold & Co., Bookbinder^,, 

ST. LOUIS. ST. LOUIS. 



a,]'\k''^ 



DEDICATION. 

Not at all to the somnolent, short-sighted and shallow-souled sub- 
jects of Monarchical Portuguese Brazil, — a country notoriously and 
disreputably characterized by preternatural retardation and stagnation, 
because, sadly and strangely enough, even at this late day, it is not 
yet in accord with the whiter and freer and better ideas and institu- 
tions of the New World ; 

Nor in the least to the bigoted and fanatical adherents of the absurd, 
befooling and baneful religion of Rome, to which the repeated revolu- 
tions and wreck and ruin of so many of the Commonwealths of South 
and Central America, and the illiteracy and poverty and decadence of 
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Poland, and other Catholic countries 
of Europe, are in the main attributable; than which body-degrading, 
mind-debasing and state-destroying system of theology, — an aggrega- 
tion of odiously false and misleading doctrines, a creed of most insid- 
ious and pernicious idolatry, hypocrisy, superstition and knavery, — no 
formulated or dogmatic religion at all would, as he firmly believes, be 
far preferable ; but 

To the more liberal, enlightened and progressive citizens of Repub- 
lican Spanish America, among whom he has had the good fortune to 
find the best friend he ever had, — his WIFE, — this book is most respect- 
fully dedicated, with even warmer wishes and purer purposes than he 
can here adequately express. 

H. R. H. 



A SINGLE REMARK. 

If by any possibility it be true, as, with a slight tinge of 
credibility, it was once reported, that there are certain peo- 
ple in this world, — people not generally reckoned in the cat- 
egory of idiots, — who sometimes read the body of a book 
before perusing even the title-page, the preface, or any other 
pertinent prefixture, I have to request that no one of them, 
nor any one else, will ever presume to take such an unwar- 
rantable liberty with this volume ; as a perfect knowledge of 
its preliminaries, as indeed of the preliminaries of every pub- 
lication, is absolutely essential to a proper understanding of 
the subsequent portions. 

H. R. H. 



PREFACE. 



This book is put before the public as a special contribu- 
tion to the general stock of ideas which, auspiciously for the 
future of the whole western hemisphere, are now beginning 
to actuate the whiter and higher and better portions of the 
people of the three Americas, North, Central, and South, 
who have already come to be affected by a yearning and un- 
yielding desire for an early and everlasting establishment of 
closer commercial and companionable relations with each 
other. During more than a^cj.e^'en years, — counting back 
from to-day, — while consta:ntly and successfully exercising 
the utmost care never to ^ay anything in positive explanation 
of the subject until njbjtV Ihave been deeply and anxiously im- 
pressed with tfie) coftviction that the one thing most needed 
to secure in pe^etuity an uncommonly high degree of well- 
being for the inhabitants of all the countries of the New 
World, is a longitudinal midland double-track steel railway 
from a point far north in North America to a point far south 
in South America ; it being important, as I think, though not 
superlatively important, that the line of the road should, in 
most latitudes, be as nearly as possible equidistant between 
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This is a consideration, 
however, which may very rightly be influenced and modified 
by the physical features and characteristics of particular tracts 
of country through which able engineers will make all neces- 



lO PREFACE. 

sary surveys and examinations, preparatory to the final selec- 
tion and location of the route. 

Since November, 1866, scarcely one of my wakeful hours 
has been free from thoughts on the subject of this road ; and 
yet, to a mind of mere mediocrity like my own, the unmeas- 
ured dimensions, the curious complications, and the diverse 
diiiticulties of the problem, are so formidable and overwhelm- 
ing, that I am still involved in serious doubt as to the steps 
which might perhaps be most prudently taken in certain di- 
rections. In this dilemma, before attempting to proceed 
any further with the enterprise on my own account, I have 
deemed it proper to call to my aid, as will more specifically 
appear on subsequent pages, the superior wisdom of five of 
my probably unknown fellow-men, no matter in what part of 
the universal Republic of Letters they may reside, for whose 
written fiicts, arguments, suggestions and sentiments at large, 
prosaic and poetic, in support and improvement of the plans 
of the project here presented, I have already had the pleas- 
ure of making provision to pay in cash an aggregate of five 
thousand dollars ; a much too meagre sum, which I should 
most willingly increase twofold at least, so it might be more 
in harmony with the unequaled greatness and grandeur of 
the undertaking, but for my financial inability to act herein 
commensurately with my desires. It is believed, though, 
that the friendly competitors, — and more especially the suc- 
cessful ones, respectively, — in this literary contest, controlled 
by a courteous and freehearted spirit of emulation, will be 
influenced quite .as much by the impulses of patriotism, and 
by the honorable ambition to achieve an intellectual triumph, 
as by any mere pecuniary consideration. 



PREFACE. I I 

In addition, however, to the five thousand dollars thus 
giveri in lump, I have, with an eye and purpose principally 
devoted to the prosecution of this design, already expended 
considerably more than a like sum in the long courses of my 
two crossings and other trying and tiresome traversings of 
the continent of South America. As a mere matter of fact, 
therefore, I may here very properly speak of an actual ex- 
penditure, by myself alone, thus far, of from eleven to twelve 
thousand dollars, as representing to that extent the illimita- 
ble degree of hope and confidence which I repose in this 
grand scheme. Moreover, in this connection, it may not be 
amiss for me to state, that, down to the present time, I have 
finished no less than five trips to and from South America 
since the spring of 185 1, when I first went there. That was 
a trifle more than twenty-eight years ago, and was only a few 
months after I had attained my majority. 

The multifarious and ever-enduring benefits which this 
road will bring about, on a scale almost inconceivably exten- 
sive, will themselves but constantly increase and expand the 
vast sphere of their own inherent usefulness, and, whether as 
active or passive sources for good, will forever foster and de- 
velop the very weightiest and loftiest interests of mankind, 
material, mental and moral, sanitary, sacred and sublime. 
For the perfect unfoldment and preservation of these tran- 
scendent interests, there will be a wide and always widening 
and invariable demand for a much higher order of intelli- 
gence than one may ever find emanating from the peurile 
understanding of little boys, or from the feminine intellectu- 
ahty of underteen girls ; the proper performance of these 
mxighty tasks, alike noble and ennobling, will require nothing 



12 PREFACE. 

less than the virile thought and mature judgment, the robust 
and rectifying wisdom, of full-grown men. 

Every State in South and Central America and Mexico is 
now sorely afflicted with at least half a dozen overpowering 
evils, separate or in combination, and yet another, even more 
sweepingly and perniciously overpowering, afflicts Brazil. 
These various deadly drawbacks may be grouped and cata- 
logued in the following order: 

I. A largely preponderating, idle, vicious and worthless 
po[)ulation of negroes, Indians and bi-colored hybrids. 
.. 2. The complete, intolerant and fanatical sway of Roman 
Catholicism, which, when seen and felt and known, as I 
have seen and felt and known it, on no less than four 
continents and divers islands of the oceans, but more 
particularly in South America, where its maleficent mas- 
tery is as yet unopposed and undisputed, and- where, on 
the right hand and on the left, before and behind, it brazenly 
unvails itself in all its naked deformity and dishonor and 
shamelessness, may very justly be regarded as the meanest 
and most irrational religion ever recognized by any race of 
white men, Mormonism and Mohammedanism only ex- 
cepted. 

3. General apathy and improgressiveness, and the very 
common and calamitous neglect of agricultural,' mechanical, 
manufacturing, and other highly important industrial pursuits, 
coupled with an almost universal contempt and disdain of 
every sort of manual labor. 

4. Among the masses of the people, unlettered stupidity, ex- 
cessive thrumming and twanging on the guitar, attuning and 
tinkletankHng on the tambourine, maudlin singing, senseless 



V 



PREFACE. 



13 



and vulgar dancing, fortune-telling, lotteries, gambling, bull- 
fighting, intemperance, licentiousness, social and political 
depravity, brutal violence, and cruelties and crimes of every 
class. 

5. On the part of a very small but extraordinarily influen- 
tial minority of the inhabitants, arrogant and aristocratic ab- 
solutism, in conjunction with oligarchal and military despot- 
ism; and also the outbreak of such frequent, unnecessary 
and sanguinary revolutions as bring deep and indelible re- 
proach on the true principles of republican institutions. 

6. Disregard of the sacredness of individual and official 
engagements, both verbal and written, and the most scanda- 
lous incompetence and malfeasance in public office. 

7. Throughout the vast valley of the Amazon, a glamour- 
glazed, hollow-hearted, meretricious and obstructive monar- 
chy, which, despite all imperial and splenetic denials of the 
truth, is still banefully black and brown and beggarly with 
Africans, Indians, mulattoes and other menial and monstrous 
mongrels ; and balefully base and besotted and barbarous 
with chattel slavery, rigidly and brutally enforced under the 
thin gauze of delusive laws ostensibly framed for emancipa- 
tion. 

In the direct and indirect influences which will be gradu- 
ally exerted by the New World longitudinal railway herein 
proposed, every one of the ponderous and portentious evils 
thus listed and held up to public reprobation, will be miti- 
gated and lessened; and at least a few of them, it is confi- 
dently believed, will be eventually and utterly destroyed. It 
is. true, unfortunately true, that our own country is not entirely 



14 PREFACE. 

free from all the evils thus inveighed against in Spanish and 
Portuguese America. On the contrary, it must be admitted 
that many of these evils are indisputably of more than suf- 
ficient rifeness and enormity in certain localities not far from 
us, as, for instance, in such Catholic-cursed cities as New 
York and Cincinnati, where, with the plottings and prayers 
and other peculiar practices of the priests, and with the ap- 
parent approbation of the prelates and the primates and the 
])opes, power is deliberately placed in the hands of such de- 
testable miscreants as Tweed, Purcell, Sweeney, Barnard, 
Walsh, Morrissey, and Reilly, and in such wretched and des- 
picable negro or semi-negro States as Mississippi, South 
Carolina, and Louisiana, as also in portions of Tennessee, 
where that high and saving degree of moral sense which is 
always inseparable from honor-affecting rights and obliga- 
tions, is only half perfect, because the population is only half 
white. But with us as a nation, such gross immoralities are 
only spasmodic and exceptional ; whereas in all South and 
Central America and Mexico, as indeed in all Catholic coun- 
tries, as also in all non-Caucasian countries, they are both 
regular and general. 

But why, if the standard of integrity among the people of 
this vast soutlierly region of the Western World is no higher 
than I have here depicted it, why do I advocate the con- 
struction of the longest and the costliest and best railway 
ever yet devised, expressly as a means and for the purpose 
of cultivating more amicable and intimate relations with 
them ? Because without the road it is not likely that there 
will ever be much amendment ; and even the little that may 
be reasonably expected, will be at best only one-sided and 



PREFACE. 



15 



■slow; but with the* road, the opportunities and prospects for 
mutual improvement will soon become absolutely boundless 
and interminable. The dwellers in those countries have 
millions of square miles of fertile lands and precious metals 
and tropical forests and fruits, and other sources of inex- 
haustible wealth, the true values of all of which we shall 
help them to develop, in a cheerful spirit of ready amenabil- 
ity to the great commercial law of demand and supply ; and, 
on the other hand, we shall sell to them, at handsomely re- 
munerative profits to ourselves, tens of thousands of car- 
loads of our surplus manufactures and other merchantable 
products, which, while fitly affording them all promised grat- 
ification, will constantly create within them a craving for still 
"hewer and better things, and will thereby, for the first time 
in their lives, awaken within them the exquisite delights of 
self-regulated and rightful unrest, activity and achievement. 

Tourneys of both vocation and recreation southward will 
be made by countless numbers of our own people at partic- 
ular seasons ; and similar journeys by correspending num- 
bers of their people will be made northward at certain other 
seasons ; whilst at all times there will be a merry stir and 
noisy bustle of regular and abundant business. A continu- 
ous rush of trade and travel each way, occupying both tracks 
day and night throughout the year, may be taken into ac- 
count with quite as much certainty as we may depend on the 
rising and setting of the sun, or the ebbing and flowing of 
the tide. At first, as happy results of our uninterrupted and 
general intercourse with each other, they will be rendered 
richer in mind and morals, and we shall be rendered 
richer in money and manners ; for it is but frank to state the 



l6 PREFACE. 

fact, that the genteel and educated classes of the Spanish 
Americans, — of course I mean those of them only who are 
purely white, — are the peers, if not the paragons, of the po- 
litest and highest-toned people in the world. They are, 
besides, possessed of the cardinal virtues in as full degree 
and practice as the most moral-reputed portion of mankind. 
By association with this superior class, whose comparative 
smallness of number is almost the only bad thing about 
them, — a class, by the way, which, as I have often noticed, 
one never finds at church, for the very good reason that there 
is no church among them in any respect worthy of their de- 
votional presence or attention, — we, as well as they, shall be 
gainers from the very start ; and so, each will soon become 
and forever remain toward the other a respectful and sincere 
and equal friend, a well-wishing and reciprocal and perfect 
helper. 

This is the class of eminently able and good men in 
South and Central America and Mexico, which, though nu- 
merically weak, yet, being intellectually and morally strong, 
will most earnestly and efficiently cooperate with us in build- 
ing the road, and also in effecting every necessary change 
and reform in other matters. Even now it is possible for 
them to be of very great service to us ; and it may, as I 
doubt not it will, soon be possible for us to be of correspond- 
ing service to them. With much manly and patriotic solici- 
tude for the future welfare of their respective countries, they 
are now crying aloud to us for help in the strenuous efforts 
they are making to attain for themselves and for their pos- 
terity a civilization less akin to the twelfth century, and more 
in harmony with the nineteenth. If we do not help them in 



PREFACE. 1 7 

the sagacious manner suggested by the exigencies of the 
situation, which ultimately will cost us nothing, but in the 
end prove of profuse and perpetual advantage to us as well 
as to themselves, we shall, by such refusal of expedient and 
friendly assistance, deserve to be roundly censured and exe- 
crated by the enlightened judgment of all mankind. Help- 
ing them, in conformity with their very reasonable and right 
request, we shall thereby but simply do our duties to our 
neighbors and to ourselves; not helping them, we shall be 
recreant to one of the plainest and brightest duties that ever 
devolved on a mighty people ; a remarkably peculiar and 
attractive duty, fragrant with dignity and honor for all who 
engage in it, and dazzingly lustrous with the fascinating qual- 
ities of legitimate self-interest. 

In view, however, of a new and very general condition of 
things hitherto quite uncommon among us, which may possi- 
bly come into existence as one of the fortunate results of the 
leading proposition contained in this book, I here feel it in- 
cumbent on myself to place our people vigilantly on their 
guard against the habitual unfairness and artifice and faith- 
lessness of most of the governments^ as contradistinguished 
from the individuals^ of South and Central America ; and I 
know not how I can more fully or effectually perform this 
dehcate but important task than by submitting for their pe- 
rusal the two following cases of gross wrong and injury offi- 
cially perpetrated by Bolivia, on the one hand, against Joseph 
H. Colton, of Brooklyn, New York, and by Brazil, on the 
other hand, against Ernest Fiedler, formerly of St. Louis, 
Missouri, but at the time of Brazil's tortious treatment of 
him, a resident of the city of New York. Though these 



1 8 PREFACE. 

cases, as here reported and presented to the Congress of 
the United States for final redress, are only compendiums 
or briefs of the cases in extenso, yet ample details are given 
in each suit to bhow exactly what my readers may expect if 
they should ever, by any strange misfortune, become credit- 
ors of such honorless and blushless and shameless govern- 
ments as either that of the so-called Republic of Bolivia, or 
that of the real Empire of Brazil. 

The germ and a very considerable part of the growth of 
the project of the Three Americas Longitudinal Double- 
Track Steel Railway, will be found explained, — in so far as 
explanation was possible and prudent under the circum- 
stances, — in the course of the Fiedler claim against Brazil. 
It has been more than once intimated, if not positively as- 
serted, that it is an exceedingly difficult task for even the 
blandest and best-intentioned philanthropist to bless certain 
needy but idiosyncratic individuals. How much more diffi- 
cult it has been for me, not being a philanthrophist of any 
sort, but only an average sort of man, of common sense 
and common justice, to bless Brazil by well-meant corres- 
pondence and interviews with her Emperor Dom Pedro II 
and the head of his Home Ministry, many of the following 
pages will plainly attest. My own judgment, whatever may be 
believed of any other man's, is fallible, and my thoughts may 
be unusually awiy in this case ; but it is my candid opinion, 
nevertheless, that Brazil, as an Empire, has irretrievably lost 
the opportunity of earning and securing the choicest bless- 
ing ever yet placed within her reach; and it may now be- 
hoove her, amid the confusion of her great guilt, to avoid, if 
she can, a blessing's antithesis. It may be, though, and it 



PREFACE. 19 

is by no means improbable, that, as a sort of final issue of 
this affair, the loss of the Empire will prove the gain of the 
Republic, — the RepubHc of Brazil; and if so, both happen- 
ings will ultimately afford occasion for the most profound 
and prolonged rejoicing among all right-thinking and well- 
acting Americans, whether of South America, of Central 
America, or of North America. Meanwhile, let the railway 
of railways be built with such wholesome deflection to the 
west of the western boundaries of the Empire of Brazil, that 
all the Spanish-speaking Republics of America, following 
the example of the United States, shall respectively and 
speedily become rich, populous and powerful ; and then, if 
not before, the broad valley of the Amazon, and other mis- 
governed lands adjoining, may be easily reclaimed from the 
rakish and rickety and rascally and ruinous rule of royalty. 
Placidly, contentedly, confidently is the Fiedler claim held in 
abeyance. If not paid in one way, it being just and legal, 
it must be paid in another. Twice, thrice, ever so many 
times, has this vaHd and equitable reclamation been rejected 
by the Brazilian Empire ; it is now preparing to await, if nec- 
essary, the action of the Brazilian Republic. 

Notwithstanding the astounding prevalence of wrong-do- 
ing and wickedness in high and low places throughout all the 
States of South and Central America, yet in every one of 
those commonwealths there are tens of thousands of well- 
informed and upright men, — white men in fact and anti- 
Catholics at heart, — with whom it will be just as safe to do 
business as with the very best men in our own or any other 
country. The more generally and intimately we become ac- 
quainted with this conspicuously honorable and excellent 



20 PREFACE. 

class of Spanish Americans, the better we shall like them, 
and, in all things, the better will it be for both them and us. 
It is this class whose numbers and powers we must, by ex- 
tending to them the right hand of good-fellowship, help to 
increase to such an extent that, in due course of time, they 
will be enabled to supplant entirely the cumbersomely and 
worthlessly base and black and brown elements in the vile- 
visaged and deleterious forms of human rubbish around 
them. Moreover, it is this very class to whom we must now 
look for several of the necessary charters and franchises, for 
the rc^^-...^ite guarantees of interest on capital, and for other 
proper pledges of practical cooperation, which will make it 
possible for us soon to evolve into one of the grandest real- 
ities of the nineteenth century the idea of a New World 
Longitudinal Double-Track Steel Railway. So soon as we 
shall be favored with the vital and indispensable assistance 
which it is beUeved the intelligent and enterprising Spanish 
Americans will promptly render in the premises, let us all go 
to work at once, and build the road without permitting any 
one of ourselves to indulge too leisurely a day's absence 
from labor, until we shall have consummated an undertaking 
so indubitably essential to the high and perfect civilization 
of three Americas. H. R. H. 

St. Louis, Mo,, September 23, 1879. 



THE COLTON CLAIM AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



• ANOTHER MEMORIAL 

FROM 

JOSEPH H. COLTON, OF NEW YORK, TO THE CONGRESS 

OF THE UNITED STATES, AGAINST THE 

GOVERNMENT OF BOLIVIA. 



To the Honorable the Senators and Representatives of 

the United States of America, in Congress Assembled: 
Gentlemen : Your petitioner, Joseph H. Colton, of New 
York, through his attorney, Hinton R. Helper, recently of 
North Carolina, but now of Missouri, had the honor, in- 
formally, to submit for your perusal, on the third day of Jan- 
uary, 1874, a printed pamphlet, wherein, down to that date, 
he briefly presented the principal facts relating to a case of 
most grievous injustice, which the Government of Bolivia 
has perversely and persistently perpetrated against him dur- 
ing the last twenty-one years. An unusual feature of the 
pamphlet thus referred to appears in the fact of its having 
been so guarded and protected by copyright as to prevent the 
general pubUcity of any such proceeding or transaction on 
the part of Bolivia as might prove lastingly humiliating or 
discreditable to her. To that unique feature of the publica- 
tion your petitioner respectfully appeals as an undeniable ev- 
idence of the fact that no intention has ever been cherished 
by either himself or his attorney to act toward Bolivia oth- 
erwise than in such manner as is compatible with real and 
considerate friendship, where no sacrifice of justice is re- 
quired as a condition of good-will. How the delicate regard 
which thus actuated your petitioner in his always well-meant 
relations with Bolivia, has been met by her with contumely, 
and with yet fresher and further manifestations of injustice 

23 



24 THE COLTON CLAIM 

and injury against both himself and his attorney, will be but 
too plainly apparent in many of the following pages of this 
new memorial. 

Bolivia does not seem to recognize the principle that the 
high and exact rules of morality which ought invariably to 
govern the intercourse of individuals with each other, are 
also binding upon States ; nor does she accept the idea that 
those same rules are fitly applicable to international relations. 
Although she herself has been fully recognized by us as a 
nation in diplomacy, yet she appears to know very little in- 
deed of any code of diplomatic morality. She certainly de- 
serves to be very severely reprimanded and punished for her 
almost numberless acts of violated faith in this affair. Your 
petitioner dispassionately challenges her to refute or deny 
the damnatory accusations and evidences which a long- 
accumulating and long-urging sense of duty has thus at last 
impelled him to file against her. 

By an honorable and admirable system of arbitration, — 
though somewhat constrained and extraordinary, yet far less 
so than war, — the Government of the United States, in 1872, 
compelled the Government of Great Britain to pay $15,000,- 
000 due by the latter to American citizens. Four years pre- 
viously, that is to say in 1868, our Government compelled 
the Fiji Islands to pay $45,000 to citizens of the United 
States, whose rights of property the unruly and vicious in- 
habitants of those Islands had grossly outraged. These two 
nationalities or communities represent respectively the very 
extremes of aggregated human puissance on the one hand, 
and impotence on the other. As may be very readily per- 
ceived, however, your petitioner's still unsettled claim against 
Bolivia is not an affair of Strength, nor of Weakness, but 
simply an affair of Right. It is an affair which very inti- 
mateiv concerns individual truth, national honor, and uni- 
versal probity. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 25 

Justice only is what your petitioner craves ; nor would he 
■ever contend for anything that is not demonstrably due to 
him in "both law and equity. Most respectfully and earnestly 
does he entreat your honorable body to constrain Bolivia to 
make just and speedy reparation for the repeated and ruin- 
ous wrongs which she has inflicted upon him, and which will 
be cited somewhat in detail in subsequent portions of this 
record of her iniquitous conduct. On the sixth day of May, 
1874, your petitioner, sorely chafed and oppressed under the 
burden of increased provocations from BoUvia, formally sub- 
mitted to your honorable body a protest, a memorial, of 
which he here feels it ahke incumbent on himself and a duty 
to others, to present to you, at this time and in this form, the 
following reprint: 



Private and Confidential 
until May 5, 1S74. 



BOLIYIA 



AS THE 



INSIDIOUS AUTHOR 



AND 



PERSISTENT PERPETRATOR 

OF 

A New International Crime, 



" Ni malas palabras, 
Ni buenas acciones." 

Extract from an Epigram agains*- Bolivia, by an offended 
Spanish-speaking German. 

(Neither bad words, 
Nor good actions.) 

For fifteen years, now going on sixteen, Bolivia owes for her National 

Maps, and always promises to pay for them, but seems 

secretly determined never to do it. 

WILL SHE PAY FOR THEM NOW ? 

An Appeal to the Congress of the United States for Just ice 

in Behalf of the Clai?nant, Joseph H. ( 'olton^ l?y 

his Attorney, Hinton Rowan Helper. 



January 3, 1874. 27 



Not with the intention of selling — for not even so much as 
a single copy is to be sold at any price whatever — but, on 
the contrary, as a means of effectually preventing publicity, 
in exact accordance with the assurances herein given to the 
Hon, Secretary of State of Bolivia, under date of January 
3, 1874, this pamphlet is 

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1874 (Jan- 
uary 3), by HiNTON Rowan Helper, in the office of the 
Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



A MEMORIAL 

FROM 

JOSEPH H. COLTON, OF NEW YORK, TO THE CONGRESS 

OF THE UNITED STATES, ACxAINST THE 

GOVERNMENT OF BOLIVIA. 



To the Honorable the Senators and Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress Assembled : 
Gentlemen: At more than seventy-three years of age, 
baffled and perplexed up to a point of complete discomfit- 
ure in a matter of officially-admitted justice due to me, for 
the last fifteen years, by a foreign government, with which 
the Government of the United States has long been in 
amicable diplomatic relations, I respectfully come before you 
with details and complaints of a series of audacious wrongs, 
to which I have been again and again subjected under the 
operations of a new species of international crime, which, in 
this auspicious era of progressive family-ship and fair-deal- 
ing among civilized individuals and nations, could hardly 
have had its inception or perpetration outside of Bolivia. 

During the summer of 1858, two of Bolivia's most able 
and distinguished military engineers, Colonel Juan Ondarza 
and Commandant Juan Mariano Mujia, under commission 
from their government, came and introduced themselves to 
me, at my place of business, in the city of New York, pro- 
posing terms for the engraving and pubHshing of a large 
map of the Republic of Bolivia, of which map, in rough out- 
line, they themselves, as army and topographical engineers of 
the nation, were the authors. On the 21st of September of 
the same year, 1858, 1 acceded to the final terms which they 

29 



30 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



proposed, and, under that date, entered into a written con- 
tract with them accordingly. 

Under the conditions of that contract, I was to engrave 
the map artistically and in the best manner, on copper-plate, 
and was then to print neatly, paste on good canvas, and fit 
up with mouldings, rollers and rings, ready for suspension 
against walls, ten thousand copies of the work — a map six 
feet in length by five feet in height — for the round sum of 
twenty-five thousand dollars in gold. This was at the rate 
of only two dollars and fifty cents for each of the said maps ; 
a price, even at that notable time of plenty and cheapness, 
which was, indeed, but very little abov^ the actual cost of 
the first rate materials and labor employed by me. The en- 
graving, printing, and publishing of such maps now, maps 
of the same dimensions, and of equal quality in all respects, 
would cost very nearly, or quite, one hundred per cent, 
more. 

At one time the Bolivian Government itself, as will be con- 
clusively proved in the course of the following pages, sold 
two thousand copies of these same maps at twelve dollars 
per copy, a,nd, at another time, three thousand copies at 
five dollars per copy ; thereby realizing, as proceeds of the 
sale of only one-half of the edition of the said map, a sum 
total of thirty-nine thousand dollars, which, as public funds, 
went into the national treasury. I am also informed, on un- 
questionable authority, that certain of these said maps of 
Bolivia, which were taken thence to the Argentine Republic, 
have been sold in Buenos Ayres, and elsewhere in that Con- 
federation, at the uniform price of twenty dollars in gold 
per copy. 

Accompanying this memorial is a copy of the map in 
question. Please examine it carefully, and dispose of it in 
whatever manner you may deem most proper. First the 
Bolivian Commissioners in New York, and afterward the 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



31 



Eolivian Government itself, at La Paz, not only approved 
my work most entirely and heartily, but expressed themselves 
as highly delighted with ihe map, and even went so far as to 
tender me an ostentatious and formal compliment on the 
skill and success which, as they were pleased to say, I had 
displayed as an American artisan and map-maker. Those 
•compliments, like many other stupendous monuments in my 
possession of Bolivian verbosity, have proved to be of the 
value of a very small fraction of the paper on which they are 
written. 

A part of the foregoing statement of facts is here made 
in evidence of the additional fact (a fact fit to be held in 
constant remembrance,) that I did not, either in person or 
by agent, go to Bolivia soliciting business, but that Bolivia 
came' to me, seeking my skill as an engraver, requesting my 
services as a publisher, and, by means of false pretenses and 
fraudulent promises, betraying me into the expenditure of a 
large portion of my patiendy and justly acquired earnings, 
the accumulations of long years of industry and economy on 
my part, for the gratification and advantage of herself alone. 

Of the twenty-five thousand dollars which the Bolivian 
Commissioners, acting for their government, were to pay me 
in this transaction, the sum of two thousand dollars was to 
be paid on the commencement of the work, and the larger 
sum, twenty-three thousand dollars, was to be paid on the 
completion and delivery of the maps, or very soon afterward. 
The smaller sum here mentioned was paid at the time agreed 
upon ; but the larger sum, being the bulk of the amount 
due me, has never been paid, not even so much as one cent 
of it, to this day; notwithstanding the fact that the Bohvian 
Government has, meanwhile, repeated.y passed acts, reso- 
lutions, and decrees, issued orders in council, given scores 
of presidential assurances, indulged in hundreds of ministe- 
rial promises, and dealt out consular and diplomatic pledges 



32 THE COLTON CLAIM 

without number, and of the most solemn and binding char- 
acter, all acknowledging the sacredness of Bolivia's purpose- 
and duty to pay the debt, and (in words only, words inflated, 
and befouled with the falsehoods of fifteen years, word>,. 
words, words,) defining the ways and means,, and declaring 
the times and places, for a final adjustment of the obligation. 
These ever-ready, endless and unfulfilled promises of a 
nation to pay an eminently just and frequently acknowledged 
debt — promises which have gradually taken on, since 1858^ 
ev ry phase of official and extra-official solemnity that the 
vilest stretch of di-engenuous diplomacy can possibly apply 
t'^ any case of debt or credit existing between a government 
on the one hand and an alien individual on the other — con- 
stitute the new crime upon which I thus especially arraign 
iiefore the highest bar of American justice, and, more gen- 
erally, before the enlightened public judgment of all man- 
kind, Bolivia, one of the sovereign and independent powers 
of the earth, a so-called republic, destitute of truth, destitute 
of honor, destitute of shame, and most conspicuously and 
painfully destitute of the modicum of merit necessary to en- 
title her to even the lowest and meanest place among the 
august family of nations. And for this new species of crime, 
of which it would appear that Bolivia is alone the execrable 
author — a crime which she has wilfully and wickedly perpe- 
trated against me times and ways without number, I now, 
and in this manner, respectfully petition your honorable 
body for speedy and equitable reparation to myself, and for 
adequate and condign punishment of the criminal. Other 
high crimes and misdemeanors frequently and flagrantly 
committed by Bolivia, to the galling shame of the friends of 
enhghtened self-government, and to the deep disgrace of 
true republican institutions, and upon which glaringly nefa- 
rious acts she ought, in a supreme international court of 
honor and equity, to be at once indicted and denationalized^ 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 33- 

will be briefly recorded against her toward the close of this 
memorial. 

The precise measures of redress which I seek, will be 
found fully and clearly indicated in the following pages, in 
which the whole case at issue is amply elucidated in the cor- 
respondence of my last and present attorney, Mr. Hinton 
Rowan Helper, who holds full, exclusive and irrevocable 
powers from me, in this case, and with whom your honora- 
ble body, or the Honorable Secretary of State, or other offi- 
cer or officers of the United States, will please adjust and 
finally settle and close this matter at the earUest convenient 
day. 

It would be unbecoming and cruel, on my part, to burden 
the Congress of my country, or any other body of beings, 
mortal or immortal, with all the letters, notes, memorandum , 
dispatches, decrees, resolutions, orders and acts, which have 
had their origin in this case ; and of which Bolivia, on her 
own part especially, has been prolific to a most marvelous 
and reprehensible extent For the last three years and more,, 
my attorney aforesaid has given close and constant atten- 
tion, both in Bolivia and out of Bolivia, to my interests in. 
the premises ; and from his own voluminous correspondence 
and papers in this regard (saving myself the labor of going 
back to cull from the musty archives of a whole decade of 
antecedent writings,) I have selected the following docu- 
ments, which constitute a fair resume of the entire case ; and 
these documents I thus most repectfuUy submit for the care- 
ful perusal, and for the equitable action, of your honorable 
body. On the sfightest intimation of your desire to examine 
them, all the papers in the case, from first to last, from 1858 
to 1873, inclusive, will at once be laid before you. 



34 THE COLTOX CLAIM 

SECRETARY FISH TO MR HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 21, 1870. 
HiNTON Rowan Helper, Esq, 

Sir: I have received your letter of the 19th instant, re- 
ferring to one from you of the 28th ultimo, soliciting inform- 
ation in regard to the condition of the claim of Mr. Joseph 
H. Colton against the government of Bolivia, and asking 
the friendly interposition of this Department in behalf of 
the claimant. 

In reply, I have to state, that the latest information upon 
the subject is contained in a note from the Minister of For- 
eign Affairs of Bolivia, under date of the 29th of May, 1869, 
to Mr. Caldwell, then United States Minister at La Paz, 
promising that his government will take into serious consid- 
eration the claim made by Mr. Colton, and adopt such ac- 
tion as justice shall require. 

Pursuant to your request, instructions will be addressed 
to Mr. Markbreit, the present United States Minister in Bo- 
livia, to renew the friendly offices which have been heretofore 
exercised with that government in regard to the claim ad- 
verted to. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY CORRAL. 

Sucre, Bolivia, November i, 187 1. 
Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State for Bolivia. 

Sir : As a citizen of the United States of America, I have 
the honor to inform you, that I have just arrived within the 
capital of Bolivia, under full and perfect power of attorney 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 35 

to settle, with the Government of Bolivia, a certain matter 
of business of long standing, which I will now briefly ex- 
plain. ' 

In the summer of 1858, there arrived in the city of New 
York, two experienced and distinguished engineers of Bo- 
livia, Colonel Juan Ondarza and Commandant Juan Mari- 
ano Mujia, duly commissioned by the Bolivian Govern- 
ment to procure the engraving and the pubUshing of ten 
thousand large maps of the Republic of Bolivia, from rough 
but careful and correct sketches in manuscript by those gen- 
tlemen themselves. On the 21st of September, 1858, more 
than thirteen years ago, Colonel Ondarza and Commandant 
Mujia entered into an agreement with Mr. Joseph H. Colton, 
of New York, one of the most celebrated map-pubHshers in 
the world, by which agreement Mr. Colton was to engrave 
the map faithfully and artistically on a copper-plate, and to 
publish therefrom (he furnishing all the materials and labor) 
ten thousand well-finished copies of the same, for the sum 
of twenty-five thousand dollars of the United States, — a sum 
equivalent to thirty thousand dollars, more or less, of the 
Republic of Bolivia. In all respects the w'ork was well ex- 
ecuted by Mr. Colton, — the map itself having been one of 
the finest and best labors of his life, — and not an iota of his 
part of the contract was left unfulfilled. Of the whole amount 
stipulated to be paid, the sum of two thousand dollars was 
advanced ; but since then Mr. Colton, greatly to his disap- 
pointment and injury, has not received one cent. 

It is to the honor of Bolivia that she has always acknowl- 
edged her obligation to pay this debt ; but mere acknowl- 
edgments of obligation, and idle promises to pay, can never 
compensate Mr. Colton for his very large outlay of money 
and labor in behalf of Bolivia, thirteen years ago. Indeed, 
he has assured me that the actual cost to himself of the ma- 
terials and labor he used, in the publication of the ten thou- 



36 THE COLTON CLAIM 

sand maps, without charging anything whatever for his own 
personal services, was twenty-one thousand dollars in gold. 
The two thousand dollars paid, deducted from the twenty- 
one thousand dollars of real, unavoidable expenses, leaves 
nineteen thousand dollars as the sum in money, in addition 
to his own personal and valuable services, which Mr. Colton, 
in that way, advanced to Bolivia so long ago as 1858 ; and, 
as already remarked in substance, on this large amount, so 
manifestly due upon the commonest principles of justice and 
equity, nothing whatever, in the way of interest or otherwise, 
has ever been paid. Moreover, in addition to the regular 
and heavy expenses thus incurred, Mr. Colton also paid all 
the incidental charges for boxing and shipping the maps, 
and for the marine insurance and freight on them, from New 
York to Arica, amounting in the aggregate, to something 
over thirteen hundred dollars; which, added to the $21,000 
already mentioned, makes the sum total of $22,300 as the 
whole first cost to himself of the various issues of this very 
unfortunate transaction ; leaving a dead loss, thus far, of $20,- 
300 in gold, as principal, actually paid out for Bolivia, thir- 
teen years ago. 

It may, I think, be seriously doubted whether Bolivia may 
reasonably or rightly expect that an altogether favorable im- 
pression will ever be produced on the minds of those who 
examine her maps — the maps which exhibit her as a part 
of the world — so long as those maps remain unpaid for. 
This I say because, having full faith in an invisibly active 
and augmentative moral influence throughout the universe, 
I beUeve that an avenging spirit of justice will, soon or 
late, and with unerring exactitude and propriety, punish and 
correct every wrongful act. 

On the 20th of September, 1864, President Acha addressed 
to the Congress of Bolivia a special and patriotic message 
upon the subject of this debt, eloquently asking for the pas- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 37 

sage of an act authorizing its speedy payment ; and Con- 
gress, responsive to his just and prudent pleadings touch- 
ing the honor and dignity of Bolivia, passed an act instruct- 
ing the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the amount then 
due, including the interest and difference of exchange, which, 
with the principal, amounted, at that time, to $38,242 in 
Bolivian money. Yet, as twice remarked already, not one 
cent has Mr. Colton ever received since the first and only 
payment — a payment in advance — of only two thousand 
dollars. 

Here follows an extract translated from the well conceived 
message of President Acha, September 20, 1864, recom- 
mending, but recommending in vain, that payment be made : 

" The history of this business, the engraving and pubHsh- 
ing of the valuable map of BoUvia, by Mr. J. H. Colton, a 
citizen of the United States, most clearly shows how just the 
claim is, and how loudly the dignity of the nation calls for 
its payment. * * * x reiterate my preceding 
recommendation, and trust that the subject will receive the 
serious attention of Congress, since, although the Minister 
of the United States has not given an official character to 
his request for the satisfaction of this claim, it is none the 
less the duty of the RepubHc to preserve its honor, which 
is now so deeply committed for the payment." 

Having thus briefly stated to your Excellency the facts in 
this case, I beg that you will, in conference with President 
Morales, seriously consider the sacredness of the obUgation 
involved, and, in recognition of the duty of BoHvia to dis- 
charge the debt without further delay, name to me an early 
day and hour when I may have the honor of calHng on you 
with the view of arriving at a good understanding as to the 
time and place of fall and final payment. 

A letter w^hich I have in hand from the Hon. Hamilton 
Fish, Secretary of State of the United States, referring to 



38 THE COLTON CLAIM 

another letter from the Department of State at Washington, 
addressed to the Hon. Leopold Markbreit, United States 
Minister to Bolivia, bearing upon this same subject, will be 
submitted to you, when I shall have the honor of calling on 
you according to your appointment ; Mr. Markbreit himself 
not being in Sucre at this time. 

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY CORRAL TO MR. HELPER. 

[Translation.] 

Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, 

Sucre, Bo^liwa, November 4, 1871. 
HiNTON Rov/AN Helper, Esq. 

Sir : I have received your highly esteemed communica- 
tion of the I St instant, advising me of your arrival in this 
city with full powers for prosecuting against this government 
the claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, for the 
maps of Bolivia, which were published under the contract 
with Messrs. Juan Ondarza and Juan Mariano Mujia. 

The government finds itself animated by the best desires 
to satisfy all just demands, and hopes you will adduce the 
necessary vouchers and accounts, to the end that such equi- 
table action may be taken as will contribute to the interest 
and credit of the nation. 

With this motive, I am much pleased to offer you assur- 
ances of the respect and consideration with wdiich 
I am your attentive and faithful servant, 

CASIMIRO CORRAL. 



ACxAIXST BOLIVIA. 39 

AFFIDAVIT OF GEN. JUAN MARIANO MUJIA. 

[Translation.] 

Sucre, Bolivia, Novemhej' 9, 187 1. 

The citizen Juan Mariano Mujia', of Bolivia, at the sugges- 
tion in person of Mr. Hinton Rowan Helper, a citizen of the 
United States of America, declares and certifies as follows: 
That on the 8th of March, 1858, a Cabinet Council of the Re- 
public of Bolivia, passed a Supreme Resolution, authorizing 
the publication of the National Map of Bolivia, then only in 
rough outline, for account of the nation. In consideration 
and virtue of that Supreme Resolution, the National Con- 
gress, assembled in Cochabamba, passed a law, on the 27th 
of October, 1S64, ordering that payment be made to Mr. 
Joseph H. Colton, of New York, of the whole amount of 
his account for the edition of the said map. 

The laAV thus mentioned, in Mr. Colton's favor, was en- 
acted by the Congress of Bolivia, having in full view all the 
previous papers in the case, including the record of the fact 
that two thousand copies of the map had already been sold, 
for account of the Government, at twelve dollars per copy, 
amounting in the aggregate to $24,000, which was then 
almost sufficient to pay the debt for the whole edition. Af- 
terward, of the eight thousand copies still stored in the Cus- 
tom-house at Arica, three thousand copies were brought 
forward, and also sold for account of the Government, at 
five dollars per copy, yielding a gross sum of $15,000, which, 
added to the other gross sum of $24,000, made a sum total 
of $39,000, which has been actually paid into the National 
Treasury of Bolivia, from the sale of only one-half of the 
said maps ; and all this without taking into account other 
copies since ordered by the Government, and sold at differ- 
ent prices. 

By the brief statement I have thus made, the truth of 



40 THE COLTON CLAIM 

which Statement is in the conscience of all around me, 
it will be seen that the edition of the Map of Bolivia, 
because of the money already received for copies sold, can 
never occasion burden or loss to the National Treasury. 

Delay, in the matter of payment, has been caused solely 
by our political dissensions and civil wars, to which must 
be attributed the increase, by way of interest, in the amount 
now due to Mr. Colton, who, on his part, faithfully fulfilled 
all the conditions of the contract that we, as the represen- 
tatives of Bolivia, entered into with him, and which said 
contract has been solemnly recognized and sanctioned by 
various acts of our National Congress. 

Finally, let it suffice to say, that the payment of the 
claim now made by Mr. Colton's attorney, Mr. Hinton 
Rowan Helper, than which claim nothing can be more just, 
will only be complying with the laws of the Republic, and, 
at the same time, be in harmony with our public faith and 
our national honor. 

JUAN MARIANO MUJIA. 

Conformably to the laws of Bolivia, the foregoing affidavit of Gen. 
Mujia was, on the 14th of November, 1871, duly acknowledged, and 
sworn to, before Jose Feliz Ona, a Notary Public, and Celedonio 
Avila, the Prefect of Sucre, otherwise sometimes called Chuquisaca. 

H. R. H. 



AFFIDAVIT OF COL. JUAN ONDARZA. 

[Translation.] 

La Paz, Bolivia, December 23, 1871. 
The undersigned, Juan Ondarza. Engineer in Chief of 
the Republic of Bolivia, declares and certifies as follows: 
J. That I was one of the original public contractors for 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 4I 

the engraving, publishing and transmission of ten thousand 
copies of the map of the RepubUc of BoHvia, which was 
ordered by the National Government, in Cabinet Council, 
by decree of March 8, 1858, which commissioned for .that 
purpose the authors themselves of the said map, Juan Mari- 
ano Mujia and myself — who were provided with authority, 
instructions and recommendations the most convenient and 
ample. 

2. That, in virtue of the said decree, authority and in- 
structions, we proceeded to New York, in the United States 
of America, and there became parties to a solemn agree- 
ment in writing with Joseph H. Colton, a citizen of that 
Republic, who was the proprietor of one of the largest and 
most reputable map-pubUshing establishments in that coun- 
try for the engraving on copper of the said map, and for the 
publishing and shipping of ten thousand complete copies of 
the same, (most of them mounted on rollers, but some with 
flexible seams for folding) for the round sum of twenty-five 
thousand dollars in gold, which sum the Government of 
Bohvia was to pay to the said Colton soon after the pubH- 
cation of the map. 

3. That the said agreement was approved and accepted 
by the Government of Bolivia, which obhgated itself to pay 
Mr. ('olton the amount stipulated, and to do so within a 
brief period, as expressed in the peremptory decree of April 
21, i860, 

4. That the debt for the maps was again recognized by 
an Act of the Bolivian Congress in May, 1861, which or- 
dered payment of the money, from that time forward, by 
installments. 

5. That, acting on the last-mentioned law, the administra- 
tion of President Jose Maria Acha, fixed the sum of eight 
hundred dollars to be paid monthly out of the public treas- 
ury of La Paz, into the hands of the Minister Resident of 
the United States near the Government of Bolivia. 



42 THE COLTON CLAIM 

6. That-none of the aforementioned laws or provisions 
having been carried out, it devolved on the National Con- 
gress, assembled in Cochabamba, in October, 1864, to make, 
and it made accordingly, a new and solemn recognition of 
the debt; fully guaranteeing the amount due, and ordering 
it to be paid to the new ministerial representative from the 
United States, the Hon. Allen A. Hall, who was also the rep- 
resentative of Mr. Colton. 

7. That, sad to relate, the law last mentioned was not 
complied with, because, almost immediately after its enact- 
ment, the successful rebellion of Melgarejo caused the tramp- 
ling out and ignoring of all the preeminent rights and duties 
of the nation. 

8. That, as Chief of the Commission named and dele- 
gated to have the Map of Bolivia published, and as a prin- 
cipal author of the said map, I have always endeavored tO' 
have our part of the contract made good, having frequently 
appeared before the Congress and Government of my coun- 
try, soliciting such effective resolutions and decrees as would 
lead to the fulfillment in good faith of the sacred obligations 
resting upon us in this regard, and with which obligations 
the honor and credit of Bolivia are now so intimately con- 
nected. 

9. That, Avith his part of the contract, Mr. Colton ob- 
served the most scrupulous and punctual compHance, en- 
graving and pubhshing, at his place of business, in New 
York, the ten thousand copies of the map of Bolivia ; and 
then, as per request and instructions, shipping the same, in 
boxes, at his own cost, to the port of Arica, subject to the 
order and disposition of the Bolivian Government ; that, for 
a long while, most of the said maps were kept in the Custom- 
house at the said port of Arica ; and that, in conformity 
with the decree of March 8, 1858, two thousand copies of 
the said map were delivered to the Government, at La Paz,. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 45 

by Mr. Mujia, from the proceeds of the sale of which our 
own account was to have been paid. These two thousand 
copies of the map were sold at twelve dollars per copy, and 
the money deposited in the National Treasury. 

10. That subsequently, in accordance with the law of 
October, 1864, three thousand other copies of the said map 
were disposed of by the Government at five dollars per 
copy. The aggregate of the two sums thus actually realized- 
by the Government of Bolivia, from the sale of only five 
thousand copies of the map, was in excess of the sum total 
of Mr. Colton's account at that time. 

11. That the late Minister Resident of the United States 
in Bolivia, the Hon. John W. Caldwell, at the instance of 
his own Government, addressed to our Bolivian Secretary of 
State, during Melgarejo's administration, an official commu- 
nication, of the nature of an international question, looking 
to reclamation in this matter. The communication in ques- 
tion w^as forwarded to me at Copacabana, where I was then 
confined in feeble health, asking me for exact information 
touching all the points of this case ; and, on the 19th day ot 
September, 1869, 1 replied thereto at length, substantially m 
accordance with these present declarations. 

12. In conclusion, having positive and correct knowledge 
of all the facts of this case from its very incipiency, having 
been a witness in my own person of the praisew^orthy labors 
and sacrifices of Mr. Colton, who so ably and successfully 
fulfilled his part of the contract, and w^ho gave his faith and 
credit to the Government of Bolivia, in the manner here ex- 
plained, I further declare and certify, that I am aware that 
the unjustifiable disappointments and delays to which the 
said Mr. Colton has been subjected from time to time by the 
&aid Government of Bolivia, have, more than once, nearly 
caused his financial ruin, and seriously crippled and retarded 
him in his business. Wherefore, I now venture to entreat 



44 THE COLTON CLAIM 

the exalted sense of equity and duty of the Patriotic Presi- 
dent, Gen. Augustine Morales, and of the Illustrious Secretary 
of State, Dr. Casimiro Corral, in favor of this preeminently 
just claim, which is now again presented for final settlement 
by Mr. Colton's new and special attorney, the Hon. Hinton 
Rowan Helper, a distinguished citizen of the United States, in 
whose hands I have the honor to place this present synopsis 
of information and declaration, to the entire truth of which I 
here give my name in autograph and my word of honor. 

JUAN ONDARZA. 

On the 27th of December, 187 1, the foregoing affidavit of Col. On- 
darza was duly acknowledged, and sworn to, in conformity with Boliv- 
ian law, before Lorenzo Vargas, a Notary Public, and Uladislao Silva, 
the Prefect, of La Paz. 

H. R. H. 



SECRETARY CORRAL TO MR. HELPER. 

[Translation.] 

Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, 

La Paz, Bolivia, January 4, 1872. 
Hinton Rowan Helper, ^j-^. 

Sir : I have received, and have submitted to His Excel- 
lency, the President of the Republic, your very agreeable 
communication of yesterday, relative to the claim of Mr. 
Joseph H. Coltdn, for the Maps of Bolivia, which were en- 
graved and pubhshed in New York. 

For the taking of this matter into full and just considera- 
tion, nothing else is now necessary than the arrival in this 
city of the Hon. Leopold Markbreit, Minister Resident of 
the United States. 

So soon as the arrival in question shall have taken place, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 45 

the business you have in hand with this Government will 
be acted upon in conformity with the principles of strict 
justice. ' 

With this motive, I offer to you the assurances, and espe- 
cial consideration, with which, 

I am your attentive servant, 

CASIMIRO CORRAL. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY CORRAL. 

La Paz, Bolivia, January i6, 1872. 
Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State of Bolivia. 

Sir : In the United States, where, for the last ninety-six 
years, we have been making steady and auspicious progress 
toward the true principles of republican government, and 
toward such condition of things generally as should charac- 
terize mankind in the highest and best estate attainable in 
this Hfe, an Act or a Resolution of Congress is regarded as 
a proceeding so solemn and binding as to be held sacred. 
I am somewhat familiar with our Federal Laws (our Statutes 
at Large), and am not aware that it has ever been necessary 
for our national legislators to pass more than one Act, or one 
Resolution, to accomplish a single object. 

In Sucre, more than ten weeks ago, just before President 
Morales and yourself set out on the way from that city to 
this, I had the honor to acquaint or re-acquaint you fully 
with the old-standing, long-unsettled business, in connection 
with your Government, that has brought me to Bolivia, and 
to solicit your aid in its early and equitable settlement. I 
am now in La Paz for the same purpose ; for the purpose of 
obtaining payment of the money due Joseph H. Colton, of 
New York, for ten thousand large maps which he engraved 
and pubhshed of and for the Republic of Bolivia in the year 



46 THE COLTON CLAIM 

1858 ; and considering die extraordinary and important fact 
that he Bolivian Government has ah-eady, by Acts and Res- 
olutions of Congress, and by Presidential Decrees, on no 
less than five different occasions, ordered payment of the 
amount due the claimant, I trust that your Excellency will 
perceive the justice and propriety of closing the case accord- 
ingly, without further delay. 

In connection with the three letters besides this, which I 
have already had the honor to address you, the first under 
date of November i, 1 871, the second dated November 4, 
187 1, and the third bearing date of January 2, 1872, I 
now most respectfully submit to you, for your examination, 
the twelve additional papers herewith inclosed, numbered 
and described as follows : 

No. I. Memorandum and substance of the Presidential 
Decree of March 8, 1858, under which decree authority 
was given to contract for the engraving and publishing of 
the map. 

No. 2. Original agreement between the Bolivian agents 
and Joseph H. Colton, for the engraving and publishing of 
ten thousand copies of the map. 

No. 3. Printed Solicitation made by Colonel Juan On- 
darza and Commandant Juan Mariano Mujia, to the Gov- 
ernment of Bolivia, in behalf of Joseph H. Colton, May 
23, 1861. 

No. 4. Resolution of the Government, May 7, i860, 
ordering payment of the amount due the claimant; not paid. 

No. 5. Legislative Resolution, August 12, 1861, ordering 
payment of the amount due the claimant ; not paid. 

No. 6. Legislative Resolution of July 22, 1863, ordering 
payment of the amount due the claimant; not paid. 

No. 7. Act of Congress, October 27, 1864, ordering pay- 
ment of the amount due the claimant; not paid. 

No. 8. Financial Law and Budget of Bolivia, pubhshed 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 47 

at Cochabamha, in 1865, under Government authority, rec- 
ognizing (on the last page but one) the obligation of the 
Republic to pay the debt ; not paid. In plain truth, this 
paper may be said to constitute the sixth (as yet) unfulfilled 
deliberative promise of the Nation to pay its long-waiting, 
long-suffering creditor. 

No. 9. Statement and Declaration of Col. Juan Ondarza, 
in favor of Joseph H. Colton, dated at La Paz, December 
23, 187 1 ; the same being a concise, terse, and truthful his- 
tory of the whole case. 

No. 10. Statement and Declaration of Commandant Juan 
Mariano Mujia, in favor of Joseph H. Colton, dated at 
Sucre, November 9, 187 1. This paper, like Col. Ondarza's 
paper, is historically and statistically valuable, and shows, as 
Col. Ondarza's paper also shows, that the Government has 
already received $39,000 from the sale of only one-half of 
the maps, besides having unsold maps suspended, for gen- 
eral reference, in most of its public offices throughout the 
Republic. Interest fairly calculated on the amount thus 
actually received from the sale of only one-half of the 
maps, and added to the principal, would probably amount 
to considerably more than the sum total of the claimant's 
account now awaiting payment. 

No. II. The semi-official newspaper, La Reforma, of La 
Paz, No. 25, June 28, 187 1, first page, sixth column, in the 
course of an article on the finances and fiabilities of the na- 
tion, mentioning the debt due to Mr. Colton, and twice 
stating the amount at $56,000, which is considerably more 
than Mr. Colton claims under the six per cent, agreement. 
It is understood that this article was written by a gentleman 
to whom the Bolivian Ministry itself had, two years previ- 
ously, referred the papers in this case, requesting him to make 
up the account. 

12. Original power of attorney given by Joseph H. Col- 



48 THE COLTON CLAIM 

ton, claimant, to Hinton Rowan Helper, to collect from the 
Government cf Bolivia the money due the said claimant, 
and to give the said Government a final receipt and acquit- 
tance therefor. 

I beg that your Excellency will bestow upon these papers 
the earliest attention that you can conveniently give them , 
so that I may not be unnecessarily detained here on expenses 
and loss of time, which would cause an aggravation of a 
case already too aggravated in certain of its features. My 
client, Mr. Colton, is now getting to be an old man, at least 
three score years and ten, and expects soon to be gathered 
to his fathers. He has more than once feelingly and sadly 
assured me that, up to the present time, his business rela- 
tions with Bolivia have caused him more disappointment, 
vexation and trouble than all the other business relations of 
his life put together. A timely application of the genuine 
principles of law and equity in this case, may redeem Bolivia 
in the estimation of this long-indulgent creditor, this good 
old man (and of many other right-minded men,) before the 
final summons shall be received to pass from earth ; and that 
this may be so, I confidently rely on the generally conceded 
superior morality, prudence and power of your present gov- 
ernment. 

I remain, sir, most respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 

CERTIFICATE OF MINISTER MARKBREIT. 

Legation of the United States, 

La Paz, January 22, 1872. 
I hereby certify that, on the i8th instant, I placed in the hands of 
the Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State of Bohvia, the original 
of the foregoing copy, together with the twelve inclosures therein spec- 
ified. 

L. MARKBREIT, 
[l. s.] United States Minister Resident. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 49 

DECREE OF THE BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT. 

[Translation.] 

Ministry of Finance and Industry, 
La Paz, BoliviAj February i, 1872. 

In view of the contract made in New York, on the 21st 
of September, 1858, between Joseph H. Colton, of the one 
part, and Juan Ondarza and Juan Mariano Mujia, of the 
other pari, for the engraving and pubHshing of ten thou- 
sand maps of Bolivia, for the sum of twenty-five thousand 
dollars in gold ; in view also of the decree of March 8, 1858, 
authorizing the making of the said contract; also the laws 
of August 12, 1861, and October 27, 1864, which order 
payment of the sum due the claimant ; also the financial 
law of the Repubhc for the year 1865, which recognizes the 
debt, including interest, at the rate of six per cent, per 
annum, and difference of exchange, in the sum total, at 
that time, of thirty-eight thousand dollars: It is hereby 
acknowledged and declared, that the claim now made by 
Joseph H. Colton, through his attorney, Hinton Rowan: 
Helper, is just, and entitled to preference in payment: In; 
virtue whereof, the Government of Bolivia, desiring to main- 
tain the national credit, recognizes as now due the claim- 
ant, by way of principal, interest and difference in exchange, 
the full sum of fifty-one thousand nine hundred and eighty- 
five dollars in Bolivian currency, or, as otherwise expressi- 
ble, the sum of forty-one thousand five hundred and eighty- 
eight dollars and fifty-four cents in gold, to be paid reHgi- 
ously out of the first funds that are obtained from the loan 
authorized by the Congress of 1871. 

Take notice of this, and pass it to the Director General 
of Accounts, for the registry of the sum of forty-one thou- 
sand five hundred and eighty-eight dollars and fifcy-four 

3 



50 • THE COLTON CLAIM 

cents in gold ($41,588.54,) to be paid to Joseph H. Colton.. 
Sign-manual of His Excellency, 
PRESIDENT MORALES. 
By order of His Excellency, 
GARCIA, 
Secretary of the Treasury. 

CERTIFICATE OF MINISTER MARKBREIT. 

Legation of the United States, 
La Paz. Bolivia, February 6, 1872. 
I, the undersigned. United States Minister Resident in Bolivia, do 
hereby certify, that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the 
original decree ; which said original decree is deposited in this I ega- 
tion. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the 
seal of this Legation. 

[L. S.J L. MARKBREIT, 

United States Minister Resident. 



MR. COLTON TO MINISTER MARKBREIT. 

New York, March 27, 1872. 
Hon. L. Markbreit, 

United States Minister, La Paz, Bolivia. 

Dear Sir : Mr. Helper has returned to this city, and has 
laid before me numerous papers in relation to my claim 
against Bolivia, which, after the long period of fourteen years, 
is, I regret to have to say, still unpaid. However, the De- 
cree passed by the Bolivian Government, on the first day of 
last month, again recognizing the debt, and promising to pay 
it, will, I trust, soon be fulfilled, in both letter and spirit, and 
so bring the case, even though at this late date, to an ami- 
cable and satisfactory conclusion. 

Among the papers, or copies of papers, submitted to me 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 5 I 

"by Mr. Helper, is one in the form of an explanatory and de- 
fensory supplenunt to the account rendered by him to the 
Government of Bolivia in ray behalf. In this paper, he 
shows plainly that, while the legal rate of interest here, where 
the debt was incurred, and is due, is seven per cent, per an- 
num, he has, with the understanding that the whole amount 
is to be paid a few months hence, charged Bolivia only six 
per cent., and that this lower rate of interest, for so long a 
time, considering the amount of the principal, is much in 
fa\'or of Bolivia, and against me. 

As you are doubtless well aware, it is a universal custom 
here with the banks and other financial houses, v/henever a 
note or other obligation falls due, and is not paid, to have it 
renewed in the sum of both the principal and the accrued 
interest ; and thenceforward the obligation draws interest on 
the whole amount so consolidated. Why, then, should Bo- 
livia, to the detriment of myself, be an exception to this rule? 
Are nations to be more favored than individuals, and ac- 
counted at the same time as less responsible and less honor- 
able? On various occasions, in years past, Bolivia has sol- 
emnly promised to pay me a specified sum, as the full 
amount due me. Suppose she had done so, as, in good 
faith, she ought to have done, and I had put the money out 
at simple interest in New York, I would, meanwhile, have 
been receiving here seven per cent.; whereas, in Bolivia, I 
am now receiving (if, indeed, I am receiving anything at all, 
other than plentiful promises) only six per cent, on the orig- 
inal sum of indebtedness. 

It would have been both right and proper for ■Mr. Helper, 
as my attorney, to have charged seven per cent.; for I myself 
have had to pay seven per cent., and in some cases consid- 
erably more tlian seven per cent., for money to sustain me 
in the very business wlierein Bolivia, inconsequence of hav- 
-.ng Tailed :o fulfill her equitable obligations, greatly embar- 



52 THE COLTON CLAIM 

rassed and crippled me fourteen years ago. And why, if I 
may ask, why should I be forced to pay seven per cent., to 
accommodate Bolivia at six per cent. ? I do not say these 
things in condemnation of Mr. Helper, and certainly not, in 
any respect, as reflecting upon yourself; for I feel under 
sincere obligations to both you and him, and am quite dis- 
posed to accept, as a final closing up of the whole case, 
the sum twice mentioned in the last decree, namely, forty- 
one thousand five hundred and eighty-eight dollars and 
fifty-four cents, in gold, or its equivalent; and all the more so, 
as I am informed by Mr. Helper that President Morales and 
Secretary Corral both assured you that the whole amount 
should be paid within " about four months " from the date 
of the said decree. 

When I tell you, as I may with all candor and truth, and 
with no small degree of unavoidable vexation and sadness 
on my own part, that the high rates of interest which I have 
had to pay for money, the execution and verification of legal 
papers, the salaries and fees of agents and attorneys, and other 
expenses attending my fourteen years' unavailing efforts to 
obtain justice from Bolivia, have amounted, and will amount, 
by the time I get through with the case, even if at once 
closed up in accordance with the last decree, to considerably 
more than one-half of the whole amount mentioned therein, 
you will readily understand with what grace and justice, (or 
rather with what lack of grace and justice,) Bolivia can still 
withhold from me the money so long and so manifestly over- 
due. Thus, as you will perceive, no matter how soon I 
may receive the amount, the whole amount mentioned in 
the last decree, I shall, in fact, as for myself, be the recipient 
of less than fifty per cent, of the entire sum. Transactions,- 
of this kind, where, in reality, the extraordinary delays, in- 
conveniences and costs of the collection of just debts are so 
great as to practically reduce the amount to less than one- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 53 

half the sum due in equity, may or may not, require com- 
ment as against the deHnquent party, but I am deeply im- 
pressed with the conviction that it is impossible for the in- 
jured party to forget them. 

In conclusion, permit me to request that you will be so 
kind as to state to President Morales and Minister Corral 
the substance of this letter, and solicit from them, without 
further delay, an order on the bankers in London, who hold 
the funds out of which my long-deferred claim is to be 
paid, an order in form and substance similar to the one here- 
with inclosed, and which is, for the most part, a copy of a 
proposed order which I have found among the several 
papers submitted to me by Mr. Helper. The debt paid in 
this manner will at least save me from still further loss by 
way of exchange, or otherwise ; and, in view of the fore- 
going statement of facts, I am sure that your own quick 
and correct sense of honorable dealings as between man 
and man, or as between men and governments, will recog- 
nize the perfect reasonableness of my request. 

I am, dear sir, yours, very truly, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



MINISTER MARKBREIT TO MR. HELPER. 

La Paz, Bolivia, March 31, 1872. 
Hon. Hinton Rowan Helper. 

My Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to acknowledge 
receipt of your favors written from Arequipa, Lima and 
Panama, and was glad to know that, on the 5th instant, you 
had arrived safely at the latter place. Mr. Colton's pros- 
pects are good. The Church loan seems to be almost cer- 
tain of success. Just so soon as I learn that the loan has 
been realized, I shall insist upon this government giving me 



54 THE COLTON CLAIM 

a draft for the entire amount of the claim, upon Messrs.. 
Lumb, Wanklyn & Co., or rather, upon General Campero,, 
the Bo'ivian Minister. I shall know in less than one month. 
Excuse haste. With kindest regards, 

I am, your friend, 

L. MARKBREIT. 



SECRETARY CORRAL TO MINISTER MARBREIT. 

[Translation.] 

Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, 
La Paz, Bolivia, June i, 1872. 
Hon. Leopold Markbreit, Unitca States Aluiister Resident: 

Sir: With your pleasing com nunication of yesterday, I 
have received Mr. Colton's letter to you, from New York 
in which he expresses his thanks to the National Govern- 
ment for the decree of the ist of February, which ordered 
payment of the amount due him for ten thousand maps of 
this republic ; asking at the same time, payment by draft in 
his favor, against Messrs Lumb, Wanklyn & Co., negotia- 
tors of the Bolivian Loan in London. 

So soon as we shall have received a full statement in re- 
gard to the said loan, the draft asked for will be given, as 
the National Government is interested that payment of Mr. 
Colton^ s claim be made, with prefere?ice, as soon as possible.. 

With this motive, I have the honor to subscribe myself. 
Your most attentive and faithful servant, 
CASIMIRO CORRAL. 



MINISTER MARKBREIT TO MR. HELPER. 

La Paz, Bolivia, June 4, 1872. 
My Dear Mr. Helper: I wrote you last on the 28th 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 55 

ultimo. I now transmit to you a note from Dr. Corral, in 
answer to one from me, relative to the Colton claim. I 
think it will prove satisfactory, for in it they promise to give 
a draft for the amount due, on Messrs. Lumb, Wanklyn & 
Co., as soon as they can ascertain the amount of their 
credit. You may beUeve me when I tell you that I shall 
not rest till they pay up. What if they decline to pay in- 
terest from the date of the decree ? Should I, in that case, 
refuse to receive the draft? Send me instructions on this 
point. Congress will meet here. I don't send copy of my 
note to Mr. Colton, for want of time. 
Your Friend, 

L. MARKBREIT. 



MR. HELPER (FOR MPs.. COLTON) TO MINISTER 
MARKBREIT. 

New York, June 14, 1872 
Hox. Leopold Markbreit, 

U. S. Minister, La Paz, Bolivia. 

Sir : One of the ablest writers of antiquity, well known 
and deservedly honored in Hebrew literature, has assured us 
that there is a time for everything ; and if that assurance be 
true, then there is a time when nations, like individuals, 
should pay for their maps. At any rate, there is a time, 
now near at hand, when I, as an individual, am either to re- 
ceive from the Republic of Bolivia, pay for the maps which 
I engraved and published for her, fourteen years ago, or 
shall have to relinquish, at once and forever, all faith in the 
integrity of her purposes and promises. 

You are aware that both President Morales and Secretary 
Corral assured you that the last decree of the Bolivian Gov- 
ernment issued in my favor, under date of February i, i872> 



56 THE COLTON CLAIM 

should certainly be made good, in all its provisions, within 
about four months from that time ; but the four months 
mentioned, and half a month more, are now up and gone, 
and I am still suffering the injustice of the inconvenience and 
burdens of the interminable delays of a faithless debtor. 
Under these circumstances, I will be as brief and pointed as 
possible in stating the final determination to which I have 
come. It is as follows : 

1. If the whole amount of $41,588.54, in gold, due me ac- 
cording to the terms of the decree of the first of last February, 
be not paid by or before the last day of next September, I shall, 
on the day following, submit all the papers in the case to our 
Department of State at Washington, and will solicit the Hon- 
orable Secretary of State to collect the money for me, includ- 
ing the large additional costs and charges, which are just and 
legal, but of which I shall never make any account what- 
ever, provided the amount mentioned in the said decree, and 
now overdue, be paid by or before the 30th day of next Sep- 
tember. 

2. Immediately after the meeting of our Congress, early 
in December of the present year, I shall, if my claim be still 
unsettled, submit to that honorable body, copies of all the 
correspondence and papers in the case, earnestly petitioning 
that a war vessel, or two or more such vessels, if necessary, 
be dispatched to Cobija, or to Mejillones, for the collection 
of the money, and that Bolivia be required to pay, besides 
the increased amount that will be found to be justly due me, all 
expenses of the naval expedition. I am well aware of the 
great gravity of these words, and of the pecuUar positiveness 
of their import in this connection ; having calmly deliberated 
with myself, and dispassionately advised with others, before 
determining on this outline of proceeding as a course of ac- 
tion to be followed. No other recourse is left me. I must do 
this or do nothing. My own sense of equity, linked with a 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 57 

sense of duty, tells me, that, in the contingency alluded to, 
it will be eminently right and proper for me to make the pe- 
tition thus contemplated ; and if it does, indeed, become right 
and dutiful on my part to make the petition, then, as a moral 
sequence, it will be but right and dutiful on the part of Con- 
gress to grant it. 

3. In the event that, in a last effort to obtain my rights in 
this case, it shall become necessary for me to pursue the 
course here foreshadowed, I shall take occasion to urge 
upon our Government the very serious consideration of the 
question, whether a nationaHty that is either too dishonest 
or too poor to pay for its maps, is, in any respect, worthy of 
a place among the family of nations ? Taking the negative 
•of this question, I shall, with such humble abiUty as I pos- 
sess, endeavor to prove that Bolivia, having, for the full 
period of fourteen years, been either too dishonest or too 
poor to pay for her maps, is no longer worthy of recognition 
as a distinct nationahty, 

4. Well justified and strongly fortified as I feel I shall be 
in the position thus assumed, I shall argue further, that it is 
■derogatory to the dignity of the United States to maintain a 
Minister or even a Consul, within the hmits of such a self- 
exhausted and disreputable community as Bolivia ; and will 
further give it as my opinion, with reasons in detail, that all 
honorable nationalities should at once withdraw from that 
-unworthy country every system and grade of international 
intercourse, and not only permit, but effectually encourage, 
the speedy and complete absorption of Bolivia by one or ' 
more of the contiguous Commonwealths ; in other words, 
that Bohvia must immediately conform her conduct to a 
higher standard of honesty and trutli and dignity, or be for- . 
ever ignored and blotted out from the family of nations, 
and her territory and obligations allowed to lapse to one or 
more of the abler and better conterminous States, — to Peru. 



58 THE COLTON CLAIM 

to Chili, or to the Argentine Republic ; or to any two or to 
all, of those neighhoring nationalities. 

Inclosed herewith you will find a copy of this communi- 
cation, which, in the event that the money so long overdue 
is still withheld, and in the further event that you deem it 
right and proper that the Government to which you are 
accredited should be advised, in ample time, of this deter- 
mination on my part, you will please transmit to the Hon- 
orable Secretary of State of Boli^'ia. 
I have the honor to be, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 
By his Attorney : 

HINTON R. HELPER. 



MINISTER MARKBREIT TO MR. HELPER. 

La Paz, Bolivia, July 3, 1872. 
My Dear Mr. Helper : I am in receipt of your letter 
dated June 14, and, in reply, beg to say that if you and 
Mr. Colton will only have a little more patience, I will in- 
sure you the full payment of the latter' s claim before the 
next meeting of our Congress. You will gain nothing by 
threats ; while I have the firm conviction that I can collect 
every cent of your claim, if you will only leave the manage- 
ment of the matter to me. Excuse the brevity of this note,, 
but I am exceedingly occupied to-day in making prepara- 
tions for a grand dinner, which I intend to give to-morrow. 
Keep cool, my dear Mr. Helper, and I give you my word 
that I shall see that justice is done Mr. Colton. 
Truly yours, 

L. MARKBREIT. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 59 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER MARKBREIT. , 

New York, August 7, 1872. 
Hon. Leopold Markbreit. 

United States Mi7iiste7', La Paz, Bolivia. 

Dear Sir: Your letter of the 3d of July is before me. 
Let us reason together. After Mr. Colton, with the faith of 
an Abraham and the patience of a Job, had waited nearly 
fourteen long years for Bolivia to keep just one of the nu- 
merous official promises in the form of decrees, resolutions 
and orders, which at various intervals during that period, 
she has issued in his behalf, as so many tokens of her inten- 
tion to pay him for ten thousand large maps, which he 
engraved and published for her in 1858, it became but too 
evident that she was only trifling with him. Congressional 
acts, legislative orders, government decrees, presidential 
promises, ministerial pledges, diplomatic guarantees, and 
consular assurances, have again and again been given with 
a readiness and redundance that might have been honora- 
ble, but for their uniform disingenuity and non-fulfillment. 

Meanwhile, as stated in his letter to you, under date of 
the 27th of March, Mr. Colton, in his long series of efforts 
to obtain at least an approximation to justice in this case, 
has already been put to the enormous expense of more than 
one-half of the whole amount mentioned in the last Bolivian 
decree. Are these proceedings on the part of Bolivia to be 
taken 9,5 examples of the honor and justice of certain newly- 
organized nationalities in the nineteenth century ? and are 
these the inklings and rules of morality that those nationali- 
ties would teach their citizens ? If so, the sooner such 
nationalities cease to exist as sovereign states, the better 
will it be for mankind, and for the world at large. 

When, at great disadvantage to Mr. Colton, and no litde 
peril and expense to myself, I went personally to Bolivia, 



6o THE COLTON CLAIM 

last year, it was to make a final effort to obtain the money 
due on this eminently just and long-pending claim. 
President Morales and Secretary Corral, both said yes, and 
proposed another decree, as if, forsooth, the claimant had 
not already, for nearly half a generation, been gorged and 
surfeited and nauseated on such worthless papers. Bolivia's 
previous and frequent disregard of the sacredness of such 
obligations had naturally filled me with distrust ; yet, in de- 
ference to your opinion and advice, I accepted the proffered 
document; with the distinct understanding, however, that 
the money should be forthcoming in the matter of about 
four months from the first of February, which would bring 
the time of maturity down to about the first of June. 

It is now August, 1872 ; the money, due since 1858, has 
not been paid ; a youthful nation still owes an elderly indi- 
vidual an old debt for its maps ; it is a debt of fourteen 
years' standing ; the creditor, an aged man, now in his 73d 
year, has waited and waited, respectfully and patiently, 
almost to the end of his days ; and yet the debtor, one of 
the distinct governing powers of the earth, has the hardi- 
hood, not to say shamelessness, to ask for a longer indul- 
gence of time. I will not here protest that this request 
comes accompanied by circumstances which would warrant 
the inference that, in the estimation of Bolivia, Mr. Colton 
is now in his dotage, or that he has become wholly oblivious 
to those priceless sentiments of self-respect and manhood 
which are so pecuHarly characteristic of almost every Amer- 
ican citizen ; but this I will say, that it is the direct cause of 
a provocation that would seem to justify the use of words 
far more forcible and scathing than complimentary ; but I 
will forbear. 

In the plenitude of your faith in Bolivia's integrity, as I 
learn from your note of the 3d of July, you kindly speak for 
her as follows: "If you and Mr. Colton will only have a 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 6 1 

little more patience, I will insure you the full amount of the 
latter's claim before the next meeting of our Congress." To 
which, in addition to what I have already said above, I have 
simply to reply, that Mr. Colton and I, again deferring to 
your wishes and advice (and on your account alone,) have 
concluded to hold everything in suspense, and will wait, if 
necessary, until the next meeting of our Congress ; but un- 
der no consideration whatever will we wait one day or one 
hour longer, except as formal and public petitioners to the 
government of the United States for the righting of this 
gross, musty, and cruel wrong; a wrong with which we, as 
mere individuals, endowed with but a single life-time, and 
not gifted with the strength of a Samson or the longevity of 
a Methuselah, feel we have no power to cope. 

I am, dear sir, very respectfully, your friend and servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER MARKBREIT. 

New York, August 19, 1872. 
Hon. Leopold Markbreit, 

Ufiited States Minister, La Paz, Bolivia. 
Dear Sir: With all our Ministers to Bolivia, except 
yourself, since the Colton claim fell due, fourteen years ago, 
Bolivia has played fast and loose, and has adroitly suc- 
ceeded in making them, each in his term, believe fib after 
fib, and falsehood after falsehood, until from some cause or 
other, their terms of office were respectively up, when the 
spell would be broken, and they would at last awaken to the 
sorry fact that they had, all the while, allowed themselves to 
be most craftily and egregiously duped. That Bolivia is 
now boldly presuming to play, this same low and dishonest 
trick upon you also, is, to me, as unwelcomely apparent as 



62 THE COLTON CLAIM 

is the most brazen-faced embodiment of vice that struts the 
streets. But I have great confidence that you will not suffer 
yourself to be so ungraciously and pitiably deceived by her ; 
albeit the false promise she gave you that she would pay 
the Colton money in " the matter of about four months " 
from the first of February last, is still unfulfilled, after the 
lapse of more than half a year. Indeed, I shall not, for one 
moment, permit myself to doubt that you will find a way 
to vindicate your dignity, both as a man and as a minister, 
and, of course, you are much better qualified than I am to 
judge how far, if at all, you should consider, as entailed 
upon yourself, the many indignities of chicanery and untruth 
which have been so long and so often manifested by Bolivia 
toward at least three or four of your most immediate pred- 
ecessors at La Paz. 

There are some cases of shortcomings, and failures, and 
forfeitures of word, of such frequent and indefensible repeti- 
tion, that, as it seems to me, there should be given, from a 
specified date to a specified date, but one further extension 
of credence; and, in my judgment, Bolivia was clearly a 
case of this kind, when, after fourteen years' practice of the 
most unblushing Machiavelism, she promised, on the first 
of February last, as she had similarly promised for the thou- 
sandth time, more or less, that she would pay the Colton 
money in " the matter of about four months." 

What can be fairer than that this particular act of bad 
faith on the part of Bolivia, should be charged against her, 
not as a single act, but as an act in addition to numerous 
others, equally bad, which she has artfully and meanly per- 
petrated during the last fourteen years ? And what possi- 
ble fitness or j^roprieiy is tliere in our maintaining, at a high 
salary, a Minister at the capital of a nation possessed of so 
little sense of jtistice, truth, or honor? Or rather, what 
ratiijnal excuse can be given for thus belittling and degrad- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 63 

ing the improved and elevated system of American diplo- 
macy which has its fountain-head at Washington ? 

You 'will remember with what reluctance I accepted 
Bolivia's last Colton decree, hardly believing it of more 
value than its weight in chaff, so far as it represented any 
honest purpose on the part of its authors. But on your 
assurance that you thought they really did mean to pay, 
and would do so, as they promised, in " the matter of about 
four months," I deferred to your views and wishes, and left 
the case in your hands, formally requesting you, in the power 
of attorney which I executed to you, on the 7th of Febru- 
ary, to collect the money and transmit it here to Mr. Cob 
ton. According to the written and verbal provisions and 
•conditions of this last decree, the money should have been 
paid about the first of June. In a mood of excessive liber- 
ality, under the circumstances, I only insisted that payment 
: should be made not later than the 30th of September. 
You now ask for Bolivia, that the time be extended to the 
first of December. Be it so. Herewith, under date of the 
7th instant, you have my letter, signed both by Mr. Colton 
.and myself, comp,_ ^ng with your request. 

Mr. Colton earnestly hopes that he may not be wearied 
nor worried in this matter with any more despicable devices, 
flagrant insincerities, nor unconscionable postponements. 
For such hmidess stratagems and circumventions on the part 
of a nation, he feels that the Hfe of an individual is too short, 

■ especially when, as in his own case, more than seventy-two 
years have already passed. He wants justice from Bolivia ; he 
wants it now; he has been waiting for it fourteen years; he 
wants the money due him since 1858. Henceforth any and 

■ every letter from Bolivia that fails to bring the money will prove 
unsatisfactory. What reassurance can you give that this claim 
will be certainly and finally settled by the time you mention, 
or that in fact, without an ai)peal 10 force of some sort against 



04 THE COLTON CLAIM 

Bolivia, it is now any nearer adjustment than it was fourteen 
years ago? Please give me full and explicit information in 
this regard, so that I may know, in good time, whether or 
not it will be necessary for me to prepare a memorial on the 
subject for the action of our Congress in December. 

I am, dear sir, very respectfully, your friend and servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MINISTER MARKBREITTO SECRETARY CORRAL, 

[Unofficial and Private.] 

La Paz, Bolivia, October y^j^ 1872. 
To His Excellency, Casimiro Coi-ral, ^'c, 6^^. 

Esteemed Sir and Friend : By this mail I have received 
letters from Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, in which 
he says that, not having received payment of his claim 
against Bolivia, he has determined to present to the Congress 
of the United States, which will assemble on the second 
of December, a memorial petitioning for the active interven- 
tion of that government in his favor. I permit myself to 
communicate to you the intentions of Mr. Colton, because 
to me it would be extremely disagreeable if he should, in- 
deed, carry out those intentions ; beUeving as I do that it 
would operate much to the discredit of Bolivia to have the 
case taken up before our Congress ; and with these views, I 
submit whether it may not be better to adopt measures to 
satisfy the just claim of Mr. Colton, If this gendeman is 
now impatient, he is hardly to be wondered at, or blamed, see- 
ing that fourteen years have passed since he has been wait- 
ing to be paid. Up to this date, the total amount of the 
claim is $42,648.39 in gold. 

Of good disposition toward your Excellency, 

I am your attentive friend, 

L. markbreit. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 6^ 

SECRETARY CORRAL TO MINISTER MARKBREIT. 

[Translation.] 

La Paz, Bolivia, October 17, 1872. 
To Mr. Leopold Markbreit, Etc. 

Distinguished and Estimable Friend : At this very mo- 
ment I have received your valued letter of to-day, in which 
you acknowledge receipt of communications from Mr. Jo- 
seph H. Colton. 

I am very sorry that the gentleman intends to present a 
memorial to the Congress of the United States. 

Be you persuaded and assured that the Government of 
Bolivia knows how to regard its obligations touching this 
just and legal claim, after having acknowledged the debt, 
and pledged its honor to pay it with preference. Conse- 
quently the time is not distant when the sum of the indebt- 
edness can be raised ; and for this reason I do not think it 
necessary that Mr. Colton should resort to the extreme 
measures which he seems to contemplate. 

Having thus answered your esteemed favor of to-day, I 
have the pleasure to subscribe myself, 

Your attentive friend and faithful servant, 

C. CORRAL. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER CROXTON. 

New York, i^^^/'z^^;^ 13, 1873. 
Hon. John T. Croxton, 

United States Minister to Bolivia. 
Sir: After an unaccountable detention of nearly two 
weeks in Washington, your note of the 30th ultimo has been 
forwarded to me at New York. I went to Washington, some 



66 THE COLTON CLAIM 

weeks ago, with the intention of laying before Congress a 
memorial, publicly petitioning that honorable and supreme 
body, for the abolition of our mission to Bolivia, and for the 
forcible collection, by the Navy of the United States, of a 
somewhat ancient but eminently just debt, due for the last 
fourteen years and more, from the Government of Bolivia 
to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of this city. But having prom- 
ised our present minister at La Paz, Mr. Markbreit, that I 
'Would take no positive step in that direction before about 
the 15th of January, I found, after consultation with several 
Senators and Representatives, that no final action could be 
had on the case during the few weeks that then remained of 
the present short session of Congress. 

Meanwhile, I conferred with Secretary Fish also, who 
kindly assured me, that, if I desired and requested it, he 
would, in the event of my not laying the case before Congress 
at this session, urge the matter a little stronger with our Min- 
ister to Bolivia. Under these circumstances, I concluded to 
withhold the case entirely from Congress, for the present, 
and to make one more earnest effort to obtain justice pri- 
vately and peaceably. That effort, in connection with my 
own individual and independent efforts, I am now making 
through the Hon. Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, whose pre- 
decessors in the State Department, for many years past, 
also gave, from time to time, more or less attention to the 
case. 

In accordance with the suggestions of some of my friends 
in Congress, it is my intention, as attorney for the claimant, 
soon to communicate directly with the Bolivian Secretary of 
State on this subject, copies of which communication will be 
.duly transmitted to both Secretary Fish and yourself; and 
after I shall have so communicated, there will probably re- 
main very little, if anything, for you to do ; and, perhaps, 
jittle or nothing for you to do before then. About this, how- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 67 

ever, I shall know better after I shall have had the pleasure of 
an interview with you. When will you arrive in New York, on 
your way to Bolivia, and at what hotel will you stop in this 
city? Any information that I may be able to give you in 
regard to your necessary outfits for sea and land (for you 
will need one particular outfit for your ocean passage, and 
another for your mountain journey,) will be given most 
cheerfully. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER (FOR MR. COLTON) TO THE HON. 
SECRETARY OF STATE OF BOLIVIA. 

New York, February 15, 1873. 
To the Honorable the Secretary of State 

of the Republic of Bolivia. 
Sir : Of equal significance with this letter itself, is the in- 
closure herewith, to which your attention is respectfully 
invited. This inclosure is substantially a copy of a commu- 
nication which I addressed to Minister Markbreit, under 
date of the 14th of June last, stating to him, that the money 
so long overdue from the Government of Bolivia to Joseph 
H. Colton, of this city, must be paid by the 30th of Septem- 
ber following, or, in the event of non-payment, specific com- 
plaint of Bolivia's many acts of bad faith in the matter 
would then be made by me to my own Government, at 
Washington, and an earnest petition presented thereto, for 
an early redress of the gross and multitudinous wrongs to 
which I have herein been subjected during the last fourteen 
years. In reply to my particular communication to Mr. 
Markbreit, of which the inclosed paper of the i4ch of last 
June IS a copy, he said he could not, consistently with his 



68 THE COLTON CLAIM 

diplomatic duties and responsibilities, lay that communica- 
tion before the Bolivian Government ; but, instead of serv- 
ing me and furthering the ends of justice in the manner I 
suggested, he took it upon himself, in effect, if not in pur- 
pose, to serve Bolivia, and perpetuate and augment an 
already overgrown iniquity by using to me, in July last, these 
suasive and delusive words : 

" If you and Mr. Colton will only have a little more pa- 
tience, I will insure you the full payment of his claim against 
Bolivia before the next meeting of our Congress." 

Deceived by the foregoing false promise, as I had already 
been deceived time and again, year in and year out, by other 
false promises, I waited until the first of last December, and 
even then, considering it possible that Minister Markbreit 
meant to assure me that it was at La Paz, and not in New 
York, that the money was to be paid " before the next meet- 
ing of our Congress," I advised him of the quandary that 
had arisen in my mind on the subject of the particular time 
and place of payment promised, and informed him that I 
would, as an additional proof of my patience and forbear- 
ance, give Bolivia the benefit of the doubt, and not take any 
decisive action against her until he could be heard from in 
reply, or until sufficient time had elapsed for me to hear 
from him in that regard. As yet he has made no reply 
whatever, and, strange enough, too strange, indeed, I have 
not received a line from him since the 20th of October, a 
blank interval as from him to me of nearly four months^ 
Nevertheless, that engagement on my part restrained me in 
honor from any earnest effort to induce Congressional inter- 
vention in my behalf until about the 15th of January, a month 
past, when, on consultation with a number of our Senators 
and Representatives at Washington, I was informed that 
the present short session of Congress was then already too 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 69 

far spent to admit of a careful consideration of the case, and 
final action upon it, before the 4th of next month, March, 
when the session will expire. 

Cheated thus out of one-half of the present session of 
Congress, and assured that the period of the other half 
was, notwithstanding the justice of my cause, too limited for 
me to obtain the important legislation I desired, I concluded, 
on further consultation with Senators and Representatives, 
not to press the matter any further in that way for the pres- 
ent, but to afford Bolivia, as I now do by this writing, one 
more generous opportunity to liquidate the debt in graceful 
comphance with the behests of amity and equity. If, as is 
but too true, there have been a thousand such opportuni- 
ties afforded heretofore, not one of which has ever been 
honored with just recognition, please consider the number 
now a thousand and one, and this one the last. 

Having submitted to you the foregoing paragraphs of in- 
formation and explanation, I now deem it proper to lay 
before you the most essential part of this communication ; 
and I do so, respectfully, by giving you the additional infor- 
mation that, unless the whole amount of the money so long 
overdue to me from Bolivia shall be paid to me here in New 
York by or before the 15th of next August, I shall immedi- 
ately thereafter publish all the principal facts of the case in 
pamphlet form, and will send the same to every one of our 
own Senators and Representatives, to our President, and to 
each of the members of his Cabinet ; and also to all the 
Governments of Europe and South America; and to the 
leading newspapers of the world. I shall also, in the event 
of not receiving payment within the period of the six months 
thus given, take, or cause to be taken, so far as I can, all 
the compulsory measures against Bolivia which I have men- 
tioned in the inclosure herewith. 

It is true that our Consfress will not meet again until the 



70 THE COLTON CLAIM 

first Monday in next December, but I will not wait till then ; 
for, having already been beguiled into waiting nearly half a 
generation, it now behooves me to be more mindful of my 
own rights, and of the solemn duties I owe to my creditors^ 
to my family, and to myself Hence my desire and purpose 
to impart to our Senators and Representatives a full and 
true knowledge of the facts of the case in advance of their 
assembling in Washington, so that intelligent and warranta- 
ble action may be taken by them early in the ensuing session. 

You will observe that, in the foregoing remarks, which are 
already more copious than I intended to make when I 
began this letter, I have said nothing in detail of the numer- 
ous deceptions and chicaneries that have been practised by 
Bolivia since 1858 to reduce and belittle (by allowing only 
unusually low, less than legal, rates of interest and other- 
wise,) the amount lawfully-due me,fnor of the innumerable 
hollow promises and heartless delays that have caused me 
so much labor and loss of time, and an expense, up to this 
present moment, of more than twenty-six thousand dollars 
in gold, in unavailing efforts to collect the sum which Bolivia 
so justly owes me, and which should have been paid to me 
many, many years ago, without subjecting me to any expense 
whatever ; but the facts here alluded to will form a part of 
my printed complaint to our Congress at Washington — if 
indeed I am eventually forced to make such complaint — and 
I shall then and there ask to be indemnified accordingly. 

Yet I hope you will not, by inflicting upon me the glaring 
injustice of still further delays and disappointments, render 
it necessary for me to take the decisive step here foreshad- 
owed. By or about or before the ist of July, s'end to me in 
dupUcate (the first by one mail and the second by another, 
payable to the order of Joseph H. Colton, No. 80 Broad- 
way, New York,) a draft for the full amount due me accord- 
ing to the last Bolivian decree, dated February i, 1872, and 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 7I 

all will be well. Such a draft shall itself be your voucher 
of complete and final discharge from all indebtedness in the 
premises ; but, if you desire it, the Minister of the United 
States to Bolivia is hereby authorized and requested tO' 
execute to you any additional release of the obligation that 
you may require, and his writing of release so executed 
shall be as absolutely good and binding against me as if 
the same were executed by myself in person. Let it be 
distinctly understood, however, that the functions and privi- 
leges of the said Minister are hereby limited in time, in this 
case, to the 15th of July at furthest, as that is the very 
latest date from which a letter posted at La Paz can reach 
New York by the 15th of August, after which particular time 
I am firmly resolved not to wait on Bolivia one day longer, 
save only as I may have to do so in awaiting equitable 
action against her m my favor by the Congress of the 
United States. 

Both the Government and the people of the United States 
are devotedly wedded to the principles of peace and good 
will toward others ; they are also strongly attached to the 
principles of honor and justice toward themselves ; but it is 
possible to offend them by subjecting them, for the full pe- 
riod of fourteen years on a stretch, to the endurance of a 
series of chafing and conspicuous wrongs ; and, once offended 
in that way, they are apt to seek, and not unapt to obtain, 
redress for all the outrages so perpetrated against them. 

There is now on file in the American Legation at La Paz: 
a large number of elaborate documents bearing on this case, 
and although it may not now be necessary for you tc exam- 
ine anyone of them (it being only necessary for Bolivia to 
pay the money so many years overdue to me,) yet I should 
be glad if our Minister there would, on your request, lay be- 
fore you for your perusal my letters to him under these sev- 
eral dates in 1872 : March 27, March 29, June 14, July 29,- 
August 7, August 19, September 9, and October 19 ; also 



72 THE COLTON CLAIM 

my last communication immediately preceding the issue of 
the last Bolivian decree to Secretary Corral, January i6, 
1872, and the affidavits of Colonel Juan Ondarza, Decem- 
ber 23, 187 1, and General Juan Mariano Mujia, November 
14, 187 1 ; also my letter to our new Minister, General Crox- 
ton, February 13, 1873. (General Croxton, still here, will 
soon take the place of Mr. Markbreit, who has been re- 
called.) 

These several papers are fair samples of those which, with 
the Bolivia-Colton decrees themselves, will constitute my in- 
dictment against the Government and nationality of your 
country, and it is for you and the other gentlemen associated 
with you in the guardianship of your Republic to decide 
whether or not Bolivia — faithless Bolivia, long-delinquent 
Bolivia — can afford to provoke into action the grave pro- 
ceedings thus contemplated. 

Herein my work is done ; my word is spoken ; I have 
nothing more to say. Nor will I again suffer myself to be 
drawn into further barren correspondence with Bolivia, or 
with any one in Bolivia, on this subject. If any new at- 
tempts be made in this case to kill more time by useless in- 
quiries, ambiguous statements, disingenuous promises, or 
Machiavelian propositions — such as have already occasioned 
me so much sad and ruinous expense in years and years 
gone by — I shall meet those attempts only by sending in 
reply a copy of this communication with its inclosure ; cop- 
ies of both of which papers I shall, within a fortnight from 
to-day, transmit to the honorable Secretary of State at Wash- 
ington, and to the United States Minister to Bolivia, respect- 
ively. DupUcates of the same papers will also be forwarded 
to you in due time. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 
By his Attorney : 

HINTON R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 73 

MR. HELPER TO PRESIDENT FRIAS. 

[Private Note.] 

New York, February 15, 1873. 
To His Excellency, the Hon. Thomas Frias, 

President of Bolivia. 

My Dear Sir : It grieves me exceedingly that duty and 
justice to my much-worried and much-wronged client, Mr. 
Colton (now nearly seventy-three years of age,) have at 
last constrained me to adopt the most specific and stringent 
measures for bringing this very just and officially recognized 
claim against Bolivia, before the Government of the United 
States, at the earliest possible day and in the strongest pos- 
sible manner, provided the matter be not amicably and 
equitably setded by the time mentioned in the long commu- 
nication which I have this day dispatched to the honorable 
Secretary of State of Bolivia. Your Excellency may remem- 
ber that when I was in Chuquisaca, in 1871, I there had the 
honor to deliver to you a letter of introduction fr^om Gov- 
ernor Frias, of Tucuman, in the Argentine Republic, and I 
myself have a very pleasing remembrance of the honor you 
did me in that city when you called on me at the residence 
of our amiable and worthy friend, Senor Don Mariano 
Ypina. Do induce your people to pay at once the money 
so long and so justly due — so many years overdue — to Mr. 
Colton, and let us all, as Americans, and as men of reason 
and honor, be friends and not enemies. 

With many sincere wishes for the success of your admin- 
istration and for your health and happiness and long life, 

I am, dear sir, very truly, your friend and servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



74 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY CORRAL. 

[Private Note.] 

New York, Febj'uary 15, 1873. 
Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State for Bolivia. 

My Dear Sir : The accompanying letter and its inclosure- 
are so long and exhaustive, that, in strict propriety, this note 
ought to be brief. The conclusion and determination of Mr. 
Colton and myself, as explained in the papers referred to, are 
final. Li extending the time for payment six months more 
from the present date, in addition to the fourteen years and 
upward already taken by Bolivia, we trust that our patience 
and our liberality of disposition will be conceded, and that 
we may not be eventually compelled, under greatly aggra- 
vated convictions of unjust usage, to resort for relief to the 
harsh and disruptive measures which I have foreshadowed. 
Simple justice, which we have so often — in so many years of 
the past — respectfully solicited, and which Bolivia has so 
frequently promised, is all we desire ; let us have that, even 
at this late day, peaceably and in honor, 'and we will, by 
your consent, remain mutual fri^-nds and well-wishers. 

Even in a mere pecuniary and worldly point of view, 
leaving out entirely the moral aspect of the question, (if 
indeed one may ever dare to disregard that sublime and 
transcendent consideration.) it is for the int-;rest of Bolivia 
to pay this debt, and to pay it, at the \ery furthest, within: 
the ultimate time mentioned in my more elaborate commu- 
nication of this same date. Without taking against Bolivia, 
the general action which I contemplate in the contingency 
alluded to, I could, I think, have had our mission to La. 
Paz aboUshed before now. So that, of one thing at least,, 
I can now very confidently assure you : unless the Colton. 
clanTi be soon paid, you will, as I beHeve, have, in the per- 
son of Gen. Croxton, if he lives to arrive at your Capital, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 75 

the last United States Minister to Bolivia; and even him 
you will probably have for a period of only about twelve 
months, perhaps less. 

I sincerely hope and trust that your action in this matter 
will be such as to contribute to the maintenance and pro- 
motion of harmony and justice and all worthy and honora- 
ble relations, international and personal. It is said here 
that President Frias is to Bolivia what Thiers is to France ; 
and this saying is highly complimentary to both of the dis- 
tinguished statesmen whose names are thus mentioned in 
juxtaposition. I remember His Excellency, Senor Frias,. 
very well, and very favorably, having had a letter of intro- 
duction to him, (delivered in Chuquisaca, in 187 1,) from 
Governor Frias, of the Province of Tucuman, in the Argen- 
tine Republic. Pray be good enough to hand to His Excel- 
lency the inclosed note. 

I am, dear sir, very respectfully, 

Your friend and servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER CROXTON. 

New York, February 28, 1873. 
Hon. John T. Croxton, 

United States Alinister to Bolivia. 
Sir : I respectfully solicit your attention to the somewhat 
elaborate communication herewith, and also to the inclosures 
which accompany it, addressed by Mr. Joseph H. Colton 
and myself, on the 15th instant, to the Hon. Secretary of 
State of Bolivia. These papers are all in relation to an em- 
inently just and fully and frequently admitted debt, due since 
1858, from the Government of Bolivia to the said Mr. Col- 
ton, and he and I are all the more desirous of rightly and 



y6 THE COLTON CLAIM 

honorably inducing you to give them special attention, be- 
cause they are framed with certain last conditions, looking 
to an equitable and amicable settlement (in this fifteenth 
year of the delinquency,) which the authorities of the coun- 
try to which you are accredited may do well to consider and 
act upon without further delay. 

Trusting that your diplomatic services in this case, and 
in all other cases, may be promotive of justice, peace and 
good will, 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, February 28, 1873. 
Hon. LL\milton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir: There must be some inherent defect in the system 
of diplomacy itself, which, when respectfully appealed to, 
and implicitly relied on, by a citizen of one Republic seri- 
ously damaged in his property by the Government of another 
Republic, leaves the aggrieved and despoiled party, after a 
period of more than fourteen years, just where it found him, 
— if not in a worse condition. This predicate is certainly 
true, incontrovertibly and conspicuously true, of the Colton 
case against BoHvia. During all the many years of the pen- 
dency of this case, there has been no time when Bolivia did 
not (because of documentary vouchers that could not be 
questioned,) unreservedly admit the justice of the claim, 
and promise to pay the money. 

Last summer Bolivia raised successfully in London, a loan 
of ten millions of dollars, less the stipulated discounts and 
commissions. In February previously she gave me a de- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



77 



cree, solemnly pledging her honor and her " religious " faith 
to the payment to me, out of the first proceeds of that loan, 
of the forty odd thousand dollars due to Mr. Colton ; but, 
notwithstanding the formality and solemnity of that national 
obligation, she has not paid one dime of the amount ; and 
I am now very apprehensive that her real purpose is never 
to pay a dime, more or less, so long as she can avoid pay- 
ment by false promises, by cunning delays, or by other meas- 
ures of duplicity, such as have, all the while, been peculiarly 
characteristic of her conduct. From first to last, since 1858, 
when the debt was contracted, the creditor and his attorneys 
have spent over twenty-six thousand dollars, and a vast 
amount of time and labor, — to say nothing of the countless 
number of vexatious disappointments incurred, — in fruitless 
eff^^rts to obtain at least an approximation to justice in this 
iPxatter; to save something, even though that something be 
less than a moiety, from the unfortunate transaction with 
Bolivia. Yet, distressing to relate, no appeal, no argument, no 
pleading, however just and earnest, seems adequate to the task 
of arousing in Bolivia either an honest impulse or a sense of 
shame. It is less fitting that such a country should be rec- 
ognized and honored as a Republic, than that Buncombe 
County, in North Carolina, should be set up and flattered 
as an Empire. 

I most respectfully solicit your careful attention to the 
six inclosures herewith, all of which bear immediately and 
pressingly on the Colton case against Bolivia ; and I beg to 
assure you that Mr. Colton and I will feel both honored and 
favored by your action in the premises, if you, through our 
minister at La Paz as a medium of communication, can and 
will at last so manage the case as that even the mere sem- 
blance of justice, which is now only possible to the claimant, 
may be had fairly and peaceably within the time mentioned 
in the inclosures. Only by some such settlement as this, 



78 THE COLTON CLAIM 

made by or before the 15th of next August, can be obvi- 
ated the necessity for a memorial on the subject to our Con- 
gress at Washington. Should you, at any time, be requested 
by Congress or by the President, to furnish more or less of 
the correspondence on file in the State Department, in this 
case, — as you may possibly be sometime next winter, — 
please let this letter and its six inclosures appear among the 
papers which you will transmit in response to such request. 
Promising not to trouble you again in Mr. Colton's behalf 
during the next six months, unless it be in reply, or in regard, 
to some important communication or information which I 
may receive meanwhile, 

I have the honor to be, with great respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY TERRAZA TO MR. COLTON. 

[Translation.] 

Department of Government and Foreign Affairs. 
La Paz, Bolivia, April 2,, 1873. 
Joseph H. Colton, Esq. 

Sir: This department has received your communication 
of the 15th of February last, and inclosed in it a copy of 
the one 5'ou addressed, under date of the 14th of June, last 
year, to Mr. Leopold Markbreit, then United States Minis- 
ter to the Government of this Republic. Having brought 
the contents of both to the notice of the President of the 
Republic, he charges me to say, in reply, that very soon the 
debt you claim, for the publication of the map of Bolivia, 
shall be satisfactorily and completely determined ; since 5 
with a view of bringing to an end the involuntary delay 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



79 



which this business has caused, to the grave detriment of 
the interests of the State, the Government will obtain from 
Congress,' to meet during the latter part of the present 
month, the necessary authority for a payment to be made 
with the funds actually in hand arising from the 17 per cent, 
which has been deducted from the loan of ^10,000* des- 
tined for the railroad of the Madeira and Mamore. 
Respectfully, 

MELCHOR TERRAZA. 



PRESIDENT FRIAS TO MR. HELPER. 

[Translation.] 

La Paz, Bolivia, April, 17, 1873. 
HiNTON Rowan Helper, Esq. 

My Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of February 15, I 
have the honor to assure you of the earnest desire of the 
Bolivian Government to satisfy the recognized debt in favor 
of Mr. Colton ; in virtue of v/hich, I dare announce to 
you that payment will certainly commence to be made dur- 
ing the present year, 1873. In case there should not be at 
La Paz any direct representative of the creditor, the matter 
might be placed in the hands of the Legation of the United 
States. 

With this motive, I offer to you my sentiments of grati- 
tude for your amiable congratulation upon my official 
investiture. 

Your affectionate and sincere servant, 

TOMAS FRIAS. 

*This is a mistake, — a very great mistake ; the discrepancy between 
the real truth and the written error in the premises, amounting to no 
less than $9,950,000. The gross amount. of the loan, successfully raised 
in London, in the summer of 1872, was $10,000,000. 

H. R. H. 



8o THE COLTON CLAIM 

EXTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT 

FRIAS TO TFIE CONGRESS OF BOLIVIA, 

APRIL 28, 1873. 

[Translation.] 

" Having already spoken of national obligations, whicli 
may be regarded as results of the personal acts of the late 
President Morales, I must not omit to speak also of the 
absolute preference given to Mr. Colton's claim, which 
comes of compromises strictly national; in. virtue of which, 
I have not hesitated to assure him and his attorney, that 
satisfaction of the debt shall be commenced during the 
present year; considering this as one of our first duties 
toward the liquidation of our national obligations." 



MR. COLTON TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE COM- 
MITTEES ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

New York, January i, 1874. 
To the Honorable the Senate and House Committees 

on Foreign Affairs, Washington. 
Gentlemen: You will receive herewith my petition to 
the Congress of the United States for justice to myself from 
the Government of Bolivia, which, in a most extraordinary 
and aggravating manner, has persistently injured me in my 
property for the last fifteen years. My age, (I being now 
in my seventy-fourth year,) and my feebleness of health, 
prevent me from going to Washington, in person, to seek 
redress for the gross wrongs which I have so often suffered 
through the many acts of bad faith of the Bolivian Govern- 
ment; but Hinton Rowan Helper, Esquire, who holds from 
me complete and permanent powers of attorney in this. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 8 1 

regard, and who is familiar with all the facts of the case, from 
first to last, will deliver to you this and the accompanying 
papers, and will, I doubt not, be able to give whatever 
additional information you may require. I have the honor 
to request, therefore, that you, as upright American Senators 
and Representatives, having official cognizance of the con- 
duct of nations, as that conduct affects the citizens of our 
own country, will, with a swiftness of dispatch commensur- 
ate with Bolivia's interminable, wilful and wicked delays, 
adjust this matter with Mr. Helper, my only, absolute and 
irremovable attorney, with full powers herein. Any settle- 
ment made with him will be as vaUd and final, in all 
respects, as if made wdth myself personally. 
I have the honor to be, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

'JOSEPH H. GOLTON. 



MR. HELPER (FOR MR. COLTON) TO THE HON, 
SECRETARY OF STATE OF BOLIVIA. 

[Private and Confidential until May 5, 1874.] 

Washington, January 3, 1874, 
To the Honorable the Secretary of State of Bolivia. 

Sir: Acting on advice, which I am unwilling to disregard, 
I have the honor to address you as follows : Under the two 
connected dates of January 3, 1874, and May 5, 1874, you 
will receive herewith a printed copy of my Memorial to the 
Congress of the United States, against the Government of 
Bolivia. Till the latter date no public proceedings in the 
case will be taken, and none even then, provided the whole 
amount of the money so long overdue to me from Bolivia, 
be, by that time, received ; otherwise the case, as printed, 
will, immediately thereafter, be submitted for the serious 
consideration and action of my own government. I am in- 

5 



82 THE COLTON CLAIM 

formed that the present (long) session of our Congress will 
probably not close until about the middle of July. By the 
amount thus claimed as overdue, I mean only the amount 
so often admitted by Bolivia herself to be due ; as appears 
in her last decree, of February i, 1872. Yet, as I have 
heretofore explained, that amount is, in reality, much less 
than the amount due in equity ; nor does this include one 
cent of the enormous expenses thus far incurred by me, in 
fruitlessly seeking justice in the case, namely, twenty-six 
thousand eight hundred and forty dollars in gold, up to the 
ist instant; together with the accruing expenses of my attor- 
ney, now in Washington, and the cost of printing the accom- 
panying pamphlet, still to be added. I am willing to for- 
give (but can never forget,) the great injustice apparent in 
these ponderous expenses, provided full payment of the 
amount due by the said last decree, of February i, 1872, to- 
gether with the interest which shall have legally accrued 
thereon up to the date of the receipt here of the money, be 
made, in good faith, not later than the 5th of May, of the 
present year. The money, in the form of a draft, may be 
either sent directly to me or to the State Department at 
Washington, subject to my order. If complete satisfaction 
of the said last decree be not given by the time mentioned 
above, I shall most earnestly, (and I am sure most right- 
fully,) publicly petition the Congress ofthe United States, as 
by the inclosed printed pamphlet, to make good to me, to 
the uttermost farthing, all original dues and actual expenses 
in the premises. By three different steamers, sailing on dif- 
ferent days, you will, if there be no miscarriage ofthe mails, 
receive this letter and the inclosed pamphlet, in triplicate. 
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 
By his attorney : 

HINTON R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 83 

Thus, honored Senators and Representatives of the Ameri- 
■can Congress, have I had the honor to submit to you, both 
by way of making complaint and by way of seeking redress, 
an epitome of the many acts of gross injustice and insult 
which, for half a generation, I, as a citizen of the United 
States, have been forced lo endure, and am still forced to 
endure, at the hands of dishonorable Bolivia, with whose Gov- 
ernment you are (no doubt but imperfectly acquainted with 
the real character of that despicable country) yet pleased 
to maintain relations of international friendship and comity. 

The main facts of the case in point may be summarized 
as follows : 

Of her own vohtion and overture, whether wily or worthy, 
BoUvia became largely indebted to me in the year 1858 fcr 
ten thousand large maps of herself as one of the governing 
powers of the earth. 

Two years afterward, in i860, having already time and 
again proved false to her solemn word with me, and I hav- 
ing meanwhile appealed to the honorable Secretary of State 
at Washington for aid in the effort to recover the amount 
due me, she promised our then Minister Resident at La Paz 
that she would soon pay off the debt. Her failure to keep 
that promise constituted her first flat indignity and insult, or 
at least what should have been regarded as an indignity a.nd 
insult, to a diplomatic representative of the United States. 

In still later years, from i860 to 1873, she has repeatedly 
given the most positive assurances to me and to each and 
every Minister Resident whom we have sent to her capital, 
that she would pay the money "very soon ;" but, up to this 
present day, not once has she been veracious enough to 
keep her word, or honest enough to pay one cent. For the 
exact truth of all these statements I would respectfully refer 
you to the six following named Ministers and ex-Ministers 
•of the United States, whose field of diplomacy is, or has 



^4 THE COLTON CLAIM 

been, Bolivia; or, if not to those gentlemen themselves in 
person, to the archives of our State Department in Wash- 
ington, where dispatches from them respectively on this sub- 
ject will be found on file : 

Hon. John Cotton Smith, Sharon, Connecticut. 

Hon. David K. Cartter, Washington, D. C. 

Hon. Allen A. Hall, Nashville, Tennessee. 

Hon. John W. Caldwell, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Hon. Leopold Markbreit, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Hon. John T. Croxton, Paris, Kentucky. 

Not merely has Bolivia, by profuse and ordinary promises^ 
written and verbal, misled me and my special agents, and 
hood-winked every Minister whom our Government has sent 
to her between the years 1858 and 1873, but she has also, 
during the same time, by numerous public and official dec- 
larations and extraordinary messages, issued under the signa- 
tures and seals of her nationality, audaciously trifled with 
all our illustrious Secretaries of State, from the days of the 
Hon. Lewis Cass to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, inclusive. 

Up to this present time, no dispute — no misunderstanding 
— has ever existed between Bolivia and myself as to the 
amount due, and her many admissions of strict justice of the 
debt have, as is clearly shown in the preceding pages, always 
been accompanied by the most solemn and formal assuran- 
ces of early payment. "Yes," is the ever ready but deceit- 
ful word upon her lips. " Yes, the obHgation is one of hon- 
or and equity ; the principal is correctly stated ; you have 
charged the minimum rate of interest ; the amount is right, 
and the money shall be paid very soon ;" but just there every- 
thing is allowed to rest quietly until, whether months or 
years afterward, she is again addressed on the subject, when, 
with an air of augmented ardor and virtue, she reiterates, 
privately and publicly, all previous promises, and pledges 
herself anew. In this way there is indeed great danger that 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



85 



from the new crime of Bolivia here described — unless that 
crime be speedily repressed and punished — a progeny of 
countless and direful evils may soon issue. 

Bolivia's most shameful conduct in this matter is a fact 
notorious all over Bolivia itself; and, to my certain knowl- 
edge, the comparatively few good men in that country mourn 
over it as they would mourn over any other distinct national 
disgrace. It is an example of barefaced fraud and false- 
hood on the part of the State, inevitably corrupting the pri- 
vate character of her own citizens, and giving a sort of pub- 
lic license for the plotting and practice of rascality throughout 
the world. Therefore, both in consideration of my own ad- 
mitted rights, and as a moral and necessary lesson to the 
great majority of the Bolivians themselves, Bolivia should 
now, at last, be required to do her obvious duty just once, 
as that duty has been so often and so exactly defined by 
herself; and thereby furnish to the world at least one in- 
stance of a forced (in the absence of a voluntary) observ- 
ance of the commonest principles of truth and justice. 

Even to hint at all the high crimes and misdemeanors of 
Bolivia, other than the one now under particular considera- 
tion, and all of which should be matters of the deepest con- 
cern with those numerous and right-minded people who are 
so earnestly struggling for better conditions of individual 
and national Hfe, would require much more time and space 
than I now have at my disposal. 

The forty-seven revolutions with which Bolivia has so 
fatally afflicted herself and her neighbors during the brief 
period that she has been an independent power, since 1825 ; 
her impermanence and precariousness of poHtical metrop- 
olis, she having, in the course of years past, held her ses- 
sions of Congress at no less than five different places, name- 
ly, Chuquisaca, La Paz, Tapacari, Oruro, and Cochabamba; 
her perverse alienation from herself, many years ago, of all 



86 THE COLTON CLAIM 

the diplomatic representativjs from Europe ; her barbarous 
assassinations of most of her Presidents ; her practical denial 
to her citizens of the rights of personal liberty and private 
judgment ; her contempt of the elevating and ennobling pur- 
suits of peace ; her inattention to the civilizing inventions and 
industries of the age; her disregard of the refining influences 
which result from a proper application of labor to the useful 
arts ; her apathy in all matters of enlightened comfort, conve- 
nience, and progress, even within her own borders; she be- 
ing a country without roads, without bridges, without hotels,, 
and without manufactures ; having no art, no science, no 
literature, little agriculture, and less commerce; and her 
shocking indecencies of daily and hourly and incessantly 
eating Hce in the public streets, as unblushingly as in the 
private houses, of all her cities and towns ; — these are some 
of the subjects which, under other circumstances, might be 
more elaborately discussed in evidence of Bolivia's unfitness. 
to be any longer recognized as a civilized nation. 

But for the very positive assurances given me by both 
President Frias and Secretary Terraza, in April last, in reply 
to my letters of final conditions under date of February 15, 
1873, — all of which assurances and letters you will have 
found herewith, — I should have had the honor of present- 
ing this petition to your honorable body before now; for I 
presumed that you would expect me to beUeve the holo- 
graphic and explicit words of an Illimanian President, and his. 
Secretary of State. Yet you see now, as I have long seen. 
to my sorrow, what such words are worth ; what, in fact, 
they have been worth for these last fifteen years ; just noth- 
ing at all; especially when the President and Secretary of 
State in question are born of BoHvia. 

A strikingly strange and suspicious feature of the assur- 
ances of President Frias and Secretary Terraza, is apparent 
in these words: " Payment will certainly commence to be 



AaAINST BOLIVIA. 87 

made during the present year, 1873." This is an ex parte 
provision or arrancjement, and I here openly protest against 
it. It is only another piece of sheer artifice on the part of 
Bolivia ; it bodes more mischief; it is rank with the sinister 
designs of double-dealing ; it means a gradual and indefi- 
nite lengthening out, into oblivion, of a comparatively insig- 
nificant debt of a country for its maps, already overdue for 
the full period of fifteen years ; it smacks of delay till the 
crack of doom. Only contemplate for a moment this 
youngest offspring of the New Crime of BoHvia. What a 
matchless and monstrous spectacle of perfidious baseness ! 

Here is a regularly recognized RepubHc, a Republic in 
name at least, passing all manner of official acts and reso- 
lutions, year after year, always frankly admitting its unde- 
niable duty to pay for its maps pubHshed in 1858, frequently 
authorizing the payment to be made in full, and then, in 
1873, promising to " commence " payment sometime during 
the fifteenth year of the delinquency ; and yet, even after so 
m.any extraordinary exhibitions of pitiable shabbiness, as if 
no depth of dishonor was low enough for Bolivia, failing to 
pay one cent! I have some little knowledge of the lan- 
guage in which I am writing this Memorial, and it may be 
that, if put to the test, I might succeed in applying a few 
appropriate terms to a so-called gentleman who w^ould 
seek to evade his just obligations to a washerwoman ; but 
never yet have I seen or heard any words of ordinary usage 
at all adequate to the description of such varied and unend- 
ing acts of ineffable meanness as Bolivia is guilty of in this 
map matter. 

I respectfully entreat your honorable body to cut short the 
barefaced and baleful career of Bolivia in this New Crime. 
Not only do I ask that, as the very least that can be done with 
any sort of propriety, you will at once suspend diplomatic 
relations with Bolivia until she learns somethins; of the crood 



88 THE COLTON CLAIM 

faith due to her national promises and pays me for her maps ; 
but I also earnestly beseech you, as the superior functiona- 
ries of my own Government, and as the highest and best 
representatives of American republican nationaHty, to grant 
me the more exact and certain measures of justice which 
are adverted to in my letters of final conditions under dates 
respectively of June 14, 1872, and February 15, 1873. 

In addition to the sum of $41,588.54 in gold, due to me 
by the decree of February i, 1872, and which should be so 
much the more as interest at the rate of seven per cent, 
over six per cent, per annum would make it, Bolivia ought, 
in equity, to be required to pay me the h-^avy expenses to 
which I have been subjected during the last fifteen years, in 
vain efforts to obtain from her what she so justly owes me. 
All told, the expenses alone amount to $26,840 in gold; and 
with this additional amount (having given her at least eigh- 
teen months of fair admonition and warning,) I now charge 
her; requesting that, henceforth, on this sum of expenses, 
thus far, as also on the sum mentioned in the last decree, 
seven per cent, per annum be allowed. 

It has thus been my painful duty to acquaint your honor- 
able body with the bad character of one of the nations of 
the new world, with which you, on your own part, are in reg- 
ular diplomatic and friendly alliance ; although that natio 1 
herself, at this time, has neither a Minister nor a Consul — if, 
indeed, she ever had a Minister — within the United States. 
Her Consul under commission at New York, a gentleman 
engaged in mercantile pursuits, is not a BoHvian, has never 
been in Bofivia, has been in Europe for the last seven months, 
and will, I hear, probably remain absent from the United States 
at least twelve months longer. Is there not lacking here 
both a principle and a practice of true international courtesy 
and reciprocity? Is it not, in truth, a very one-sided busi- 
ness ? The United States are not unrepresented in BoHvia ; 
but Bolivia is unrepresented in the United States. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 89 

Lord Clarendon bluntly blotted Bolivia from the Diplo- 
matic map of Great Britain in 1853. France, Germany, 
Russia, and all the other governing powers of Europe, have 
likewise long since ceased to regard Bolivia as worthy of no- 
tice as a nation. Out of South America, it is our own coun- 
try alone that maintains a minister in Bolivia. 

Honorable Senators and Representatives of the American 
Congress : The intelligent and well-meaning world has al- 
ready, more than once, had occasion to applaud the reason- 
able measures of protection and indemnification which you, 
as national legislators, as republican statesmen, have ac- 
corded to those of your less fortunate fellow-citizens who 
for a time have been despoiled of either their rights or their 
property by inconsiderate foreign Governments. I now ask 
that you will, with your usual moderation and fairness to- 
ward all concerned, afford to the better portion of mankind 
another proof of the fact that citizenship of the United 
States is indeed a great and glorious privilege — a high pre- 
rogative — carrying with it the amplest guarantees of rightful 
consideration at home and of due respect abroad. 

Only the plain truth about Bolivia have I told your hon- 
orable body. She came to me. I did not go to her. 
Scores of times has she grossly deceived me. In both spirit 
and purse has she greatly injured me. Truth finds no wel- 
come with her. From justice she hides her face. Honor 
she never knew. She knows no shame. Absolutely incapa- 
ble has she proved herself of performing one little straight- 
forward act of honesty. As a nation she is abject to the 
last degree. Not only does she not pay the amount origi- 
nally due to me, but, in the fruitless efforts which I have 
made during fifteen years to collect the money, she has thus 
far caused me an additional loss, in actual expenditures and 
binding compromises, of nearly twenty-seven thousand dol- 
lars in gold! Is this justice? Is it not a gross outrage 



90 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



against all the principles of honorable dealings ? Is it not 
a species of national swindling and robbery, and should not 
the nation so manifesdy guilty of such criminal conduct be 
either compelled herself to pay the aggregate amount of 
principal, mterest and costs, or unceremoniously dislodged 
from the eminence of sovereign power, and her territory and 
obligations allowed to lapse to an honest and solvent 
neighboring nationality ? For an equitable and affirmative 
replv to this last inquiry, and for action accordingly, 1 confi- 
dently appeal to the enlightened and just judgment of my 
own great Government, as that Government is now 
supremely and preeminently represented in the Congress of 
the United States. 

JOSEPH H. COLTON, ClaimaJit. 
By his Attorney : 

HINTON R. HELPER. 
Correct, — Approved: 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



AFFIDAVIT OF JOSEPH H. COLTON. 

New York, May 6, 1874. 
I, the undersigned, Joseph H. Colton, do hereby, in truth 
and honor, solemnly declare and swear, that all the docu- 
ments and other papers printed on the foregoing pages of 
this pamphlet are genuine and true, as they purport to be, 
and what the Government of Bolivia owes me, in justice 
and equity, the two sums respectively of forty-one thousand 
five hundred and eighty-eight dollars and fifty-four cents in 
gold, ($41,588.54,) with interest due thereon from February- 
I, 1872, and twenty-seven thousand three hundred and six- 
teen dollars in gold ($27,316,) as expenses actually paid and 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 9 I 

to be paid by me and by my attorney, Mr. Helper, in this 
long-pending case, up to the present date. May 6, 1874. 
And herein I most earnestly entreat the sovereign and influ- 
ential Congress of my country to do me at last, whilst yet 
surviving in my old age, that long-def^*-red justice which I 
can now no longer look for from the incerminably false-prom- 
ising Government of BoHvia, which, for the full period of 
fifteen years, has trifled with me, in this grave matter, far 
more recklessly and viciously than any wanton ever yet did 
trifle with a toy. 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 
Witnesses. 

M. Randolph. 

O. C WOOLSON. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this the eleventh day 
of May, 1874, in the City and County of New York. 

WALTON P. BELL, 

[l. S.] ' Notary Ptcblic. 

> 

Such, then, honored Senators and Representatives of the 
Congress of the United States of America, such, then, is 
the antecedent memorial which, informally on the 3d of 
January, 1874, and formally on the 6th of May of the same 
year, your petitioner had the honor to submit for your con- 
sideration and action against Bolivia. Moreover, during 
the progress of your patient and enlightened deliberations on 
the subject, your petitioner took occasion, from time to time, 
between the 6th of May, 1874, and the 3d of March, 1875, 
to lay before you, through the mediumship of your learned 
and able Committee of the Senate on Foreign Affairs, the 
various additional briefs, letters and opinions which here 
follow : 



<)2 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MINISTER HALL TO MR. COLTON. 

Legation of the United States, 
CocHABAMBA, BoLiviA, September Z, 1864. 
Joseph H. Colton, Esq., Neiv York. 

Dear Sir: A fortnight ago I transmitted to the State 
Department, at Washington, a copy of a very elaborate state- 
ment which I have laid before the Bolivian Government, and 
in which is carefully reviewed the whole course of wrong 
and injustice which they have pursued toward you. My ob- 
ject in drawing up that statement, which is upward of seventy 
cap-paper pages in length, was two-fold: First, to satisfy 
our own Government that there existed abundant grounds 
for their intervention, if I could not otherwise induce this 
government to pay your just claim in full ; and, second, to 
reach the sensibilities and awaken the apprehensions of the 
Bolivian government, by showing how bad the case was, and 
leaving them to infer that they would be compelled to pay, 
if they did not do so voluntarily and speedily. For, when I 
came to examine all the papers in the case, I saw, in the 
acts of the government of Bolivia, good grounds for the in- 
tervention of the United States ; and I confidently expect 
permission from Washington, after my full statement shall 
have been read there, to notify this government officially, 
that the claim must be adjusted without further delay. 
Yours truly, 

ALLEN A. HALL. 



EX-MINISTER CALDWELL TO MR. HELPER. 

Cincinnati, November 29, 1870. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : * * * I presented Mr. Colton's claim 



AGAINST BOLIVIA* 



95 



orally and In writing to the government of Bolivia, through 
the Bolivian Secretary of State, in 1868 and 1869, elabor- 
ately. The Secretary replied that his government desired a 
report on the subject from Messrs. Ondarza and Mujia, the 
engineers and commissioners on the part of BoHvia, in ref- 
erence to the execution of the work, and that, on the recep- 
tion of such report, I should be informed of the action his. 
government would take. Both of the gentlemen named 
were distant from La Paz, living in separate, interior places ; 
a-nd some time would necessarily have to elapse before their 
answers could be received. Meanwhile I was myself re- 
lieved from office, and retired from La Paz. I presented 
the claim in very strong terms. In my intercourse with the 
Bolivian government in regard to the matter, I invariably 
stated that I considered the validity of the claim as com- 
pletely estabhshed and settled by the government of Bolivia 
itself; and that now nothing further was necessary, or in or- 
der, but payment by that government of the amount due to 
Mr. Col ton. Copies of my correspondence with the gov- 
ernment of Bolivia, and with the government of the United 
States, on this subject, may be found in the Department of 
State at Washington ; and they are also on record as a part 
of the archives of the United States Legation at La Paz, in 
Bolivia. 

Respectfully yours, 

JOHN W. CALDWELL. 

The action of the Bolivian Government, as explained in 
the last foregoing letter, in postponing a reply to Minister 
Caldwell, under the plea that it desired first to correspond 
with its absent engineers and commissioners, who had, more 
than ten years previously, bargained in New York for the 
engraving and publishing of the map, and whose regular 
proceedings in the premises had always been matters of 



94 THE COLTON CLAIM 

governmental record and approbation, was only another 
stratagem, — one of a thousand, more or less, on the part of 
an atrociously untruthful and dishonest nation. Many times 
already had Colonel Ondarza and Commandant Mujia pa- 
tiently and carefully reported all the facts in this case to the 
new and ever-changing governments of Bolivia; sometimes 
verbally, sometimes in writing, and at other times in print ; 
and, although they promptly prepared and presented still 
another full and correct statement at the particular time here 
mentioned, clearly demonstrating, as they had so often de- 
monstrated before, that Bolivia was entirely in the wrong 
and Mr. Colton entirely in the right, yet their faithless gov- 
ernment took no notice of it whatever, and until questioned 
about it, nearly three years afterward, never even so much 
as intimated its existence to the new Minis' er of the United 
States. In the graphic affidavits respectively of Colonel 
Ondarza and Commandant Mujia, as given personally to 
Mr. Helper, one at Chuquisaca, and the other at La Paz, to- 
ward the close of the year 1871, and as embodied in his 
published appeal to Congress, under date of January 3, 
1874, the Colton case against Bolivia is, simply in those two 
Bolivian documents themselves, so ably and admirably con- 
densed as to be singularly perspicuous and complete. 

H. R. H. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARY HALE TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, April 10, 1872. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir : Your letter of the 4th instant, on the subject of Mr. 
Joseph H. Colton's claim against the Government of Bolivia, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



95 



has been received, and die suggestions dierein contained 
will receive attention. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

CHARLES HALE. 



MR. COLTON TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, April 9, 1872. 
Hox. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir: On application at the Bolivian Consulate in this 
city, a few days since, for a certified copy in English of the 
Decree in Spanish, which was issued by the iBolivian Gov- 
ernment, on the first day of last February, in my favor, the 
Consul, or rather Mr. J. J. Ribon, who, in the absence of 
Mr. Munoz, in Jamaica, is now acting here in the capacity 
of Bolivian Consul, refused to give me a certificate for the 
true and full amount due. I beg leave to request, therefore, 
that you will be kind enough to favor me with, a free and 
correct translation into EngHsh of the said Decree, as you 
may have received it officially from Bolivia; so that, 
although I am not myself famiiHar with the Castilian lan- 
guage, I may yet be satisfied, and be able to satisfy others 
with whom I have business relations, of the exact amount for 
which the Decree was issued, and also of the true sense, in 
all respects, if not the precise wording, of the same. 

Feeling that I have no right to request the Government 
of the United States to incur the expense of having the 
translation made for my benefit, I having already, from time 
to time, asked and received so many favors from your Depart- 
ment, without any charge whatever, I shall expect to be 
informed of the amount of fees and other charges, if any. 



96 THE COLTON CLAIM 

that are usual and equitable in cases of this kind; and all 
such fees and charges will at once be paid. Indeed, in this- 
particular case of Bolivian delinquency, during the last four- 
teen years, I have had so much burdensome experience in 
paying for the execuiion and verification of legal documents, 
before lawyers, notaries public, consuls and other functiona- 
ries, and for the more extended and laborious services of 
agents, correspondents and attorneys, that I have now 
become quite accustomed, though by no means reconciled 
to it ; my total disbursements and liabilities in the case, as- 
stipulated by agreements, having already considerably ex- 
ceeded fifty per cent, of the whole amount mentioned in the 
Decree! Still I trust that Bolivia may soon be brought to 
a full and anxious knowledge of the fact that it is neither 
just to me, nor honorable to herself, to subject me indefi- 
nitely, year after year, for so long a period, to such ruinously 
disadvantageous experience. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



By his Attorney: 



HINTON R. HELPER. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARY HALE TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, April 12, 1872. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir : Your letter of the 9th instant has been received. In 
compliance with the request which it contains, a copy of a 
translation of the recent Decree of the Bolivian Govern. 
ment, providing for the claim in the Colton case, is herewith 



ACxAINST BOLIVIA. 97 

transmitted. This translation is the one which accompained 
a dispatch from Mr. ^larkbriet on the subject. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

CHARLES HALE. 
Enclosure : Translation of Decree, relative to the claim 
of J. H. Colton. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, December lo, 1872. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washmgton. 

Sir : It is with profound disappointment and regret, mingled 
with no small degree of disgust toward the delinquent, that 
the duty is again imposed upon me of soliciting your atten- 
tion to the apparently endless series of insincere and treach- 
erous promises of Bolivia, in the matter of her indebtedness 
to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of this city, for ten thousand large 
maps which he engraved and published for her, in the year 
1858. Time and again has the debt been fully and frankly 
acknowledged by the Government of Bolivia, and time and 
again has Bolivia, by Congressional Acts, by Presidential 
Decrees, by Diplomatic Assurances, and otherwise solemnly 
promised to pay the money ; but all her promises have 
proved worse than simply worthless ; and sorely aggrieved 
by the magnitude, variety and duration of the provocations 
to which she has so cunningly subjected Mr. Colton and my- 
self, I feel that it is but just to denounce her, to yourself and 
to all the world, as a shameless trifler, a delusion and a snare. 

On the first day of last February, when BoHvia issued to 
me in person, as Mr. Colton's attorney, at La Paz, her sixth 
governmental act in his behalf, I was "religiously" assured, 

6 



^8 THE COLTON CLAIM 

by both President Morales and Secretary Corral, that the 
money should be paid " in the matter of about four months." 
According to that pious promise, payment of the money 
should have been made about the first of June ; but it dis- 
tresses me to know that that promise, like a thousand and 
one other similar promises given by Bolivia, within the last 
fourteen years, turned out to be an exceedingly false and 
misleading promise. In the early part of July, our Minister 
at La Paz, Mr. Markbreit, in reply to an ultimatum from Mr. 
Colton and myself, gave me this untjualified assurance : " If 
you and Mr, Colton will only have a little more patience, I 
will insure you the full payment of the latter's claim against 
Bolivia before the next meeting of our Congress." Though 
nettled by the remembrance of so many years of IlHmanian 
perfidy, yet Mr, Colton and I did " have a little more pa- 
tience." We informed Mr. Markbreit that, while it was im- 
possible for us to exercise any further faith in the Punic 
promises of Bolivia, yet we could believe him, and would 
wait. We waited accordingly, and are waiting still ; but still 
the money has not been paid; and I am now clearly of the 
opinion that Bolivia never meant to pay, and never will pay, 
one dollar of the debt, if she can possibly avoid it. Nor 
-do I doubt in the least that she will artfully and trickishly. 
avoid her duties in the premises until doomsday, unless, 
meanwhile, some measure of compulsion can be successfully 
brought to bear against her. 

I now have it in contemplation to publish, very soon, in 
pamphlet form, a brief but perspicuous history of the whole 
case, purposing to submit a copy of the same to every mem- 
ber of our Senate and House of Representatives, respect- 
fully petitioning them for such redress as simple justice may 
demand ; but, before doing so, I have thought it best to lay ' 
before you this restatement of the facts, and to ascertain 
definitely whether, under all the circumstances, it maynot 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 99 

be right and proper for you, as the American Secretary of 
State, and as both a national and international conservator 
of equity and honor and peace, to insist that Bolivia shall at 
once cease her deceitfulness and general meanness of con- 
duct toward our worthy citizen, Mr. Colton, and pay him the 
money she has owed him so long, and in regard to which 
you yourself, and several of your predecessors in the State 
Department, have been so frequently annoyed. Pray be 
good enough to favor me with a reply to this last paragraph, 
and I shall then be able to determine whether or not to go 
to Washington, and there publicly lay the case before our 
Congress. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, December ii, 1872. 
Hinton Rowan Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir : This Department has received your letter of yester- 
day, relative to the debt of the Bolivian Government to Mr. 
Joseph H. Colton, for copies of a map of that Republic. 
The delay in the payment of that debt is a matter of regret. 
The Department in this case, however, has done all it can 
properly do, or w^hich it is usual to do, in the case of a con- 
tract between a citizen of the United States and a foreign 
Government. Hitherto no Secretary of State, so far as I 
am aware, has deemed himself authorized to regard any 
such contract as guaranteed by this Government. The good 
offices, therefore, only, and not the official interposition of 



lOO THE COLTON CLAIM 

the Ministers of the United States in Foreign countries, 
have been sanctioned. I am not aware of any circumstan- 
ces in the case of Mr. Colton, which would warrant or re- 
quire a deviation from the policy adverted to. It must be 
presumed that, in making his bargain, he took into consid- 
eration both the ability and the disposition of the Bolivian 
Government to fulfill its share of the agreement, and charged 
accordingly. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



Note From Mr. Colton : New York, December 14, 1872 : 
— If, by the two or three closing words of the foregoing 
letter from Secretary Fish, he means to intimate or suggest 
that I charged Bolivia one cent more than I would have 
charged the United States or any other body politic, cor- 
poration, or company, or himself, or any other individual, 
he is entirely mistaken, and raises against me a new and 
strange question, which Bolivia herself, with all her glaring 
faults and faithlessness, has never once urged, or even 
hinted at, in the sHghtest degree. On the contrary, at the 
time of the contract, in 1858, feeling myself preferred and 
honored by the commission to execute so large an order 
for a far-distant government, I undertook and did the 
work at such low rates, that, even if Bolivia had paid me 
fully and promptly, as I expected she would do, in accord- 
ance with the conditions of the agreement, -I should have 
realized only a very small profit. Then, too, everything 
was at the very lowest price ; now, that is to say, at this very 
time, the engraving and pubUshing and finishing of the 
same maps would cost about twice as much, or one hundred 
per cent. more. Making no charge whatever for my own 
time and assiduous services as contractor and supervisor, 
my actual. expenses for the materials and labor enlployed 
in the execution of the order, and for boxing, shipping and 
insurance, amounted to over twenty-two thousand dollars in 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. TO I 

gold; and, in addition thereto, my attorneys and myself, in 
the numerous fruitless efforts which we have since made to 
obtain my just dues in the premises, have spent, up to the 
present time, by actual outlays of money, and by binding 
contingencies, in the form of fees and commissions payable 
on the final satisfaction of the debt, upward of twenty-six 
thousand dollars ! 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



Corroborative Note From Mr. Helper: New York, 
December 14, 1872: — It is but the simple and incontestable 
truth to say, that Mr. Colton published the maps for Bolivia 
at an extraordinarily low figure. The dimensions of the 
map are five feet by six ; it is very artistically engraved, 
and is beautifully finished in every respect, with rollers, 
mouldings and rings, ready for convenient suspension 
against walls. The ten thousand copies, all on canvas of the 
best quality, were furnished at the rate of two dollars and 
fifty cents each. When I was at Buenos Ayres, in 1871, I 
found, in a book store there, two of the maps in question, 
they having been taken there from Bolivia. I desired to 
purchase one of them, and would have done so, but for the 
faQt that the owner would not sell them, nor either of them, 
for anything less than twenty dollars in gold per copy. A 
member of the Cabinet of the Argentine Republic bought 
one of those copies, at that very price, whilst I \vas there. 

H. R. HELPER. 



CONGRESSMAN MYERS TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington, December 20, 1872. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : I return herewith the copy of your letter to 
the Secretary of State, and also his reply, in reference to the 



I02 THE COLTON CLAIM 

debt due by Bolivia to Mr. J. H. Colton, of New York. I 
do not like to advise what yoa shall do in this matter. It is, 
as you are aware, very difficult to obtain intervention by au- 
thority of Congress in such a case. Where the claims 
against a foreign government are made by a number of our 
citizens, we have, in a number of instances, as in the case 
of Venezuela, interposed, and endeavored to obtain satis- 
faction of them. There have also been some instances, 
where our authorities have asserted the claim of even a sin- 
gle one of our citizens; but these latter are few; and where 
the claim is old, the chances of success are not strong. 
You must therefore use your own judgment in the matter. 
A'^ery truly, yours, 

LEONARD MYERS. 



SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, March i, 1873. 
HiNTON R. Hetter, Esquire, Ahw York. 

Sir : Your communication of yesterday, relative to the 
claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton against the Bolivian govern- 
ment, has been received and placed on file. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER CAMPERO. 

Havre, France, April 18, 1873. 
Hon. Narciso Campero, Bolivian Ambassador to Europe, 
Distinguished Sir : While in London last week, I made 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. lOJ 

inquiry for your Excellency, intending to submit to you, orally 
at least, the firmly fixed determination of Mr. Joseph H. 
Colton, of New York, in the matter of Bolivia's long-stand- 
ing obligation to him for the maps which he engraved and 
published for her in the year 1858- But having been in- 
formed, by Col. Church and others, that you had left Eng- 
land for the Continent, I have now concluded to lay before 
you the inclosed copy of a communication, in the form of 
an ultimatum, which Mr. Colton and I, as his attorney, ad- 
dressed to the Hon. Secretary of State for Bolivia, on the 
15th of February of the present year. So far^ however, as"- 
your Excellency is individually concerned, I have no partic- 
ular request nor suggestion to make in this regard ; only 
deeming it proper thus to acquaint you, as Bolivia's highest 
and ablest representative in Europe, of the unalterable pur- 
pose to which Mr. Colton and I have been finally provoked 
by the frequent and flagrant delinquencies of BoHvia. Yet 
I sincerely hope that, for her own sake, as well as for the 
sake of her shamelessly deceived creditor, BoHvia may at last 
act with at least a passable degree of prudence and honesty 
in this time-w^orn and temper-trying affair. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MINISTER CROXTON TO MR. COLTON. 

Legation of the United States, 
La Paz, Bolivia, June 7, 1873, 
Mr. Joseph H. Colton. 

Dear Sir ; * * * Soon after my arrival at La Paz, 
I proceeded to examine into the status of your claim against 



104 THE COLTON CLAIM 

the Bolivian government, and discovered that President 
Frias, and those by whom he was surrounded in the admin- 
istration of the government, recognized the justice of the 
claim, and were anxious to see it paid. # * * Since 
the incoming of President Ballivian's administration, I have 
again presented the matter and find the disposition to pay 
you quite as strong now as it was under Frias. I am sure 
Senor Baptista, the Secretary of State, has a strong feeling 
in your favor, and, indeed, appreciates very fully the damage 
to his own government by the long delay you have suffered. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

JOHN T. CROXTON. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, Sepfe?nber i, 1873. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir : In the course of the long letter which I had the honor 
of addressing to you, under date of the 28th of last Febru- 
ary, in relation to Mr. Joseph H. Colton's claim, of nearly 
fifteen years' standing, against the Government of Bolivia, 
I took occasion to assure you that I would probably not 
trouble you again in that regard for the full period of six 
months. That time is now up ; and it is with very sincere 
regret that I feel called upon to renew to you my well-founded 
complaint of the prolonged and unparalleled duplicity of the 
Bolivian Government in this case. It is now a deep-settled 
conviction with both Mr. Colton and myself, that Bolivia is 
immeasurably untruthful and dishonest, and that she does 
not mean to pay, and never will pay, one cent of the amount 
so long and so justly due, save only under stress of the most 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I05 

positive compulsion. In the absence, therefore, of any off- 
setting or satisfactory information or assurance from yourself, 
as Secretary of State of the United States, it is the inten- 
tion of the creditor and his attorney to proceed at once 
against Bolivia, as earnestly and effectively as possible, in 
exact accordance with the plan detailed in my communica- 
tion addressed directly to the Bolivian Secretary of State 
under date of the 15th of last February ; a copy of which 
communication was transmitted to you on the 28th of the 
same month. If, then, you know of any good reason, based 
on considerations of 'amity or equity or prudence, why I 
should pursue any other course of action than the one men- 
tioned above, pray be kind enough to favor me with it, and 
I shall be governed accordingly. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. COLTON TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, December 4, 1873. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washiftgton. 

Sir : This letter wdll be handed to you by Hinton R. 
Helper, Esquire, w^ho again goes to Washington, with full 
and permanent powers from me, to renew his endeavors to 
effect a fair and honorable settlement of my very just claim, 
of fifteen years' standing, against the Government of Bolivia ; 
and to this end, I thus again most respectfully solicit for him 
your valuable advice and cooperation. Mr. Helper will have 
the honor to submit to you several late and important pa- 
pers from Bolivia, which I presume you have not yet seen. 
Any letter or letters which may be received at the State' De- 



Io6 THE COLTON CLAIM 

partment, for me, from Bolivia, will be on this business, and 
may be delivered to Mr. Helper, with whom, as my attorney, 
any settlement of my said claim may be made as validly 
and finally as if made with myself personally. 
I have the honor to be, with all respect, 

Your obedient servant 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



MR. HELPER TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

Washington, December 15, 1873. 
Hon. Simon Cameron, United States Senator. 

Dear Sir: Accompanying this note you will find a some- 
what lengthy Memorial from Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New 
York, to the Congress of the United States, against the 
Government of Bolivia, to vvhich I, as the claimant's attor- 
ney, respectfully solicit the attention of yourself as Chairman 
of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. You may re- 
member that I had the honor of speaking with you briefly, 
on this same subject, last winter. I shall not ask you to 
read the whole of the Memorial just now, unless it be quite 
agreeable to you to do so, as I shall not want any public 
action on the case until the New Year shall have come ; 
but I trust that you maybe pleased to peruse at least a por- 
tion of it, so as to be able to advise me on a single point of 
it, when I shall have the honor of calling on you a few days- 
hen ce. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I07 

MR. HELPER TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

Washington, January 7, 1874. 
Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Chairi?ia7i of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
Sir : Your attention is most respectfully solicited to the 
inclosed copy of my printed protest against the Government 
of Bolivia, touching the fifteen years' recognized indebted- 
ness of that Government to my aged chent, Mr. Joseph H. 
Colton, of New York, in whose behalf I had the honor of 
speaking with you here, last winter. Yet, as you will per- 
ceive, I do not desire any Congressional proceedings in the 
case until after the 5th of May, of the present year ; nor 
shall I desire any such proceedings even then, provided pay- 
ment of the whole amount so long overdue be made by that 
time. You will be duly advised of any action which, within 
the next four months, the Bolivian Government may be 
pleased to take in the premises. Meanwhile, however, if 
the general Diplomatic and Consular Bill be brought up for 
the action of the Senate, I trust that you will cause a consid- 
eration of the usual appropriation for the support of our mis- 
sion to Bolivia to be postponed until after the expiration of 
the date above mentioned, the 5th of May, as, in the event 
of the continued non-payment thus apprehended, I shall 
submit to your Committee other documents, proving still 
more conclusively, as I think, that our mission to that un- 
worthy country ought to be abolished altogether. 

I am, sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER„ 



103 THE COLTON CLAIM 

PROFESSOR DAVIDSON TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, Ja^iuary 12, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir: * * * The Colton-Bolivia memorial is 
spicy reading ; and I have enjoyed it accordingly, in its liter- 
ary aspect. I am amazed that any government pretending 
to even a merely respectable position among the civilized 
nations of the earth, should dare even once, as, in this case, 
Bolivia has dared time and again, to treat with contempt 
and neglect the plainest and most fundamental principles of 
international justice. In my opinion, Bolivia's repeated and 
extraordinary acts of bad faith toward Mr. Colton clearly de- 
mand the immediate, vigorous and decisive intervention of 
our own government in behalf of one of its seriously injured 
and outraged citizens. 

Respectfully and sincerely yours, 

JAMES WOOD DAVIDSON. 



MR. HELPER TO BOLIVIA'S SECRETARY QF 
STATE. 

New York, Fehruary 5, 1874. 
To the Ho7iorahle the Secretary of State for Bolivia. 

Sir : If this be not my last word with Bolivia, on the sub- 
ject of the Colton claim, the fault, as always in the past, will 
be Bolivia's, and not mine. As is very plainly intimated in 
■my printed letter to your Excellency, under date of the 3d 
ultimo, which, as therein promised, has already been for- 
warded to you in triplicate, Bolivia's extraordinary prevari- 
cations and shortcomings toward Mr. Colton during the last 
fifteen years, have, with both himself and his attorney, now 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



109 



reached a point of personal honor, which no amount of 
money, however large, can ever possibly control. Two years 
ago, when your Government gave to me in person, at La 
Paz, the last decree issued in this case (as if there should 
ever have been any occasion or necessity for issuing more 
than one such document, the first of five or six similar doc- 
uments having been issued as far back as i860 !) I was sol- 
emnly promised full payment, " with preference," out of the 
"first proceeds" of the London loan, which ft Avas then 
thought would be raised, and was raised, about four months 
thereafter. 

As the decree itself shows, to this positive promise of full 
payment " with preference " out of the " first proceeds " of 
the London loan. President Morales and his Cabinet, with 
pious hypocrisy, pledged the " religious " faith of Bolivia. 
The entire loan, representing a gross sum of ten millions of 
dollars in gold, was, as already stated, successfully raised in 
London about four months after the said last decree was 
given ; a.nd yet, so far from the whole amount having been 
" religiously " paid " with preference " out of the " fir^t pro- 
ceeds " of the said loan, Bolivia, during the last two years, 
as during the previous thirteen, has given nothing but an 
apparently limitless series of plausible and delusive assur- 
ances. Even to this day she has never paid one cent ! Fit 
condemnation by pen or speech of such untruthful and dis- 
honest conduct on the part of a government is simply im- 
possible ; language itself, even in its strongest forms and 
most ingenious combinations, is utterly inadequate to the 
task. In effect, if not by way of example, such a govern- 
ment gives to its own people, and to all other peoples, a 
license to practice the grossest falsehood and fraud, and is, 
therefore, in reality, the impious enemy and corrupter of 
mankind at large. 

Down to the present time, the total expenses which, dur- 



no THE COLTON CLAIM 

ing the last fifteen years, have been incurred in unavaihng 
efforts to obtain from Bolivia even the elements of equity in 
this affair, amount to over twenty-seven thousand dollars in 
gold. I have already assured your Excellency that Mr. Col- 
ton and I are now disposed to overlook and abate (though 
we may never be able to forget,) these ruinous expenses, 
provided the whole amount of the principal and interest due 
according to the last decree of the Bolivian Government be 
paid here, in good faith, not later than the 5th of May, of 
the })resent year. This assurance I now repeat ; and Mr. 
Colton and I will, in the future, as in the past, always be true 
to Bolivia, notwithstanding the fact that she has never yet 
even once been true to us. \\^eightily impressed, however, 
with a sense of the point of honor to which I have referred 
above, this I must say, besides, that although I am, on the 
condition mentioned, willing to omit and renounce the whole 
of the large sum of twenty-seven thousand dollars in gold 
thus manifestly due in law and in equity, yet if the tenth part 
of one dime of the special amount so long overdue accord- 
ing to the last Bolivian decree, dated February i, 1872, re- 
main unpaid here on the 6th of May, of the present year, I 
shall then lay solemn and tenacious claim to all my rights in 
the premises, including the principal, interest and expenses, 
and will thenceforth never be content to receive the small- 
est fraction of a cent less. Nor, until Bolivia shall have 
reclaimed herself somewhat from the loathsome baseness 
and barbarity of bloody bigotry, from social and civil and 
military villainy, and from other demoralizing and atrocious 
issues of Catholicism and negroism and Indianism and bi- 
colored hybridism, will I ever consent to give credence for 
one moment to any word or promise which she may proffer, 
or hold myself bound to regard her as entitled to any more 
kindly consideration than that which should invariably be 
exercised toward a highway-robber, or a notorious outlaw. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. Ill 

I am perfectly aware that this letter is not couched in 
smooth and mystical and misleading phrases, such as but 
too comfnonly encumber the records of mediaeval and mod- 
ern diplomacy. It was not intended to be a letter of that 
sort ; but it is something better ; it is a letter of truth, aim- 
ing at justice. Unmixed with device, and free from am- 
biguity, it is unvarnished verity, simply expressed ; and, so 
help me Heaven, I shall stand by it and defend it to the 
last, come what may. Considering the number, the dura- 
tion and the circumstances of the provocations in this case, 
the farther use of ephemisms in reasonings and expostulations 
with BoHvia, would, in a more than ordinary sense, be 
beneath the dignity of true manhood ; on the one hand, it 
would be rank with the turpitude of treachery to truth itself, 
and on the other, it would be repulsively foul and offensive 
with the most perfidious betrayal of justice. 
I am, sir, very respectively. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, February 5, 1874. 
Hon. Hamilt( N Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washi?igtoji. 
Sir : A few weeks before I left Buenos Ayres, toward 
the close of last summer, the Hon. Adolfo Carranza, the 
BoHvian Consul-General at the capital of the Argentine 
Repubhc, — himself an Argentine citizen, — exhibited to me, 
at his office, (whither I had repaired for any open informa- 
tion of interest from Bolivia,) a copy of the First Quarterly 
Report, for 1873, from the Department of Finance and In- 



112 THE COLTON CLAIM 

dustry, by the Hon. Casimiro Corral, the .then Secretary of 
State for Bolivia; on the 19th page of which I saw a new 
acknowledgment of the Colton claim against Bolivia, with 
interest allowable thereon, as stated, at twelve per cent, per 
annum, which is, I believe, the regular commercial and 
general business rate of interest in that country. This new 
proceeding on the part of Bolivia, on which she has never 
consulted either Mr. Colton or myself, and of which neither 
of us had ever received any notification whatever, forms 
another link in the long and complicated chain of her inex- 
plicable freaks and follies in this affair. Only six per cent, 
per annum was the rate of interest which, by way of com- 
promise, Bolivia herself stipulated to pay me for Mr. Colton. 
Particularly desirious of obtaining a copy of the report 
above mentioned, I wrote on two different occasions, by 
different mails, to our present Minister Resident at La Paz, 
the Hon. John T. Croxton, respectfully requesting him tO' 
send me a copy of the same; but, thus far, I have not 
received from him either the report itself, or any other reply 
whatever. Neither have I ever received from him any 
reply to any of my other three letters, which I had previously 
written to him, more than eleven months ago. Nor yet 
have I, nor has Mr. Colton, ever received from him any- 
thing whatever in the shape of any Bolivian document, of 
any sort, bearing on this subject ; although in a letter to 
Mr. Colton, dated June 7, 1873, he says he incloses therein 
an extract from the favorable message of President Frias to 
the Bolivian Congress, on the 28th of last May. His letter 
contained no inclosure whatever. Fortunately for Mr. Col- 
ton, however, and thanks to the consideration and poHte- 
ness of Mr. Carranza, one of Bolivia's own Consuls,— in. 
this case more considerate and more polite than the Ameri- 
can Minister in Bolivia, — I myself, in July last, obtained the 
whole of that message at Buenos Ayres. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



113 



I may not now understand perfectly well the reciprocal 
rights and duties which exist, or should exist, between tax- 
paying American citizens at home, and salaried American 
Ministers abroad, whose salaries are paid out of their fellow- 
citizens' money ; but I am hopeful of being able to learn 
something more in this regard during the present session of 
Congress. Because of the facts herein stated, I deem it 
proper, both on my own account and on account of my 
client, Mr. Colton, to complain to you, Mr. Secretary of 
State, as I thus do complain, of Gen. Croxton's remissness 
and neglect of duty in the Ministerial position which he 
now occupies. 

I also feel it incumbent on myself to protest to you, that 
Gen. Croxton, even after having received from me full in- 
formation of the fact that this case against Bolivia has al- 
ready cost Mr. Colton, up to the present time, not only the 
amount of the principal originally due, but also the interest 
thereon, and worse still, more than twenty-seven thousand 
dollars in expenses, incurred in fruitlessly prosecuting his 
just claim, during the last fifteen years, he himself, as Minis- 
ter, now has the hardihood to ask Mr. Colton to allow him 
ten per cent, of the whole amount of the claim, for an anony- 
mous agent whom he proposes to employ; as if, forsooth, 
there could possibly be any necessary or legitimate use for 
the employment of more agents, and the consequent incur- 
ring of more expenses, in a case which has already, for the 
thousandth time, more or less, been formally recognized and 
admitted by the nation-debtor, the very nation to which he 
is accredited, as eminently just, and entitled to preference in 
payment ! Nor is this the first instance that has come to my 
knowledge of our national misfortune in having under com- 
mission, and in full function, certain ministers who selfishly 
care more for themselves abroad, than for the rights of their 
fellow-citizens at home, or for the honor or the interests of 

6 



114 "^^^ COLTON CLAIM 

their country. Would it not be well for our diplomatic ser- 
vice generally, and for our Republic in every other respect, 
if all such ministers were at once recalled from foreign lands ? 
A proper regard for the growth and maintenance of our fair 
fame and intiuence in far-distant domains, would seem to 
require that our Presidents should henceforth invariably ex- 
ercise UKve patriotic solicitude and discretion in the desig- 
nation of our diplomatists. 

Yet this ten per cent, proposition of Gen. Croxton, in the 
Legation of the United States at La Paz, is even surpassed 
in rapacity and audacity by one from Ex- Minister Markbreit, 
at Cincinnati, who, in a letter to Mr, Colton, under date of 
May 7, 1873, proposes, after all that has been done, and in 
full view of his past personal and official connection with the 
case, to return to Bolivia, and there undertake the collection 
of the money due, for twenty-two per cent, of the amount 
which that unparagoned national debtor may be graciously 
pleased to pay. provided Mr. Colton will, in any event, de- 
fray his expenses hence to Arica, in Peru, and back to New 
York! This indeed, under the aggravated circumstances of 
the case, is a proposition too stupendous to admit of mild 
or measured com.ment. Looking with my mind's eye at 
Minister Markbreit at La Paz, in 1872, when; on his own 
false assumptions, iie gave the most positive assurances that 
the money due to Mr. Colton should be paid before the 
meeting of our Congress in December of that year, and at 
Ex-Minister Markbreit at Cincinnati, in 1873, when deprived 
of office, and with so much ironical disinterestedness, he 
proposes to go back to Bolivia, at Mr. Colton's expense, 
and collect the money for twenty-two per cent, of whatever 
amount he may obtain, I am absolutely confused and dumb- 
founded in amazement. 

I have been reliably informed, however, that, during the 
single year of 1872, Bolivia gave Minister Markbreit at least 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



115 



thirty separate and distinct promises to pay the Colton 
money ',' very soon ;" yet that over-credulous and cajoled 
Minister, withoutever receiving even so much as a half-dime 
■of the amount due, remained, of his own accord, meekly 
and submissively at La Paz, until, from certain exigencies 
arising from the ups and downs of party politics in our own 
country, he was, not a day too soon, suddenly recalled from 
the scene of his sunny sinecure. How any American Min- 
ister, gifted with a grain of true manhood, and already in 
full possession of a knowledge of Bolivia's unparalleled per- 
fidy in the premises, could, under so many inexcusable and 
dignity-dispelling circumstances, accept and cherish even 
one-half the number of thirty such hypocritical promises, 
without asking for his passports and returning home, is a 
mystery in international statecraft, which I have neither the 
ability to explain nor the desire to comprehend. 

As Americans of self-respect and honor, let us send no 
more uniiedged Ministers to Bolivia, to be there deceived 
and corrupted by her ; no more diplomatic officials of any 
sort, in any event, until she shall have paid her fifteen years' 
debt for her national maps, and thereby removed at least 
one great source of evil to herself and of injury to others. 
The very atmosphere of such a country is defiled and in- 
fected with the noxious vapors of depravity. 

I should still be glad to receive the ex parte and high- 
interest-assigned Bolivian document above mentioned, — 
Secretary Corral's Financial and Industrial Report for the 
First Three Months of 1873, — or the semi-annual repubU- 
cation of the same ; but as self-respect imperatively forbids 
my ever again addressing Gen. Croxton on any subject what- 
ever, I would sincerely thank you yourself for such simple 
action in the State Department as may be necessary to 
secure a copy for me. The postal expenses and other 
charges which may attend the procuring of the document 



Il6 THE COLTON CLAIxM 

will be cheerfully, borne by me. With many thanks for the 
many favors which you have already kindly rendered me in 
this protracted case against Bolivia, the guilty cause of so- 
much misdemeanor, ill-feeling and accusation, 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. BLYTH TO i>IR. HELPER. 

New York, February 23, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir. I have perused with much interest your pam- 
phlet exposing the iniquity of the Government of Bo.ivia in 
its relation as debtor to Mr. Joseph H. Colton. Evidently 
there are not two sides to this case; and there can, as it 
seems to me, be but one opinion concerning it. It is plain 
that the conduct of that Government, and of some of the 
diplomatic officials of our own Government, who have pre- 
tended to aid in the matter, is, as regards bad faith and 
gross injustice, almost without parallel. It appears to me, 
however, that the greatest hindrance to your success in the 
case, thus far, might be traced to the fact that you have en- 
deavored to collect a just claim by just and honorable means 
only. Had you figured your claim at $99,855.62, and ex- 
pended all above $50,000 in^carefully oiling the machinery of 
the Bolivian Government, you would probably, years ago,, 
have obtained in clean cash the latter amount. 
Yours sincerely, 

HENRY A. BLYTH. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. II7 

MR. FIELD TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, February 25, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : I have read with great interest your pamphlet 
in regard to the claim of Mr. Colton against the Government 
of Bolivia. If there had been any dispute about the con- 
tract made, or the amount due under it, the conduct of the 
Government of that country might, in part at least, be 
excusable; but, under the circumstances set forth, there 
appears to be no excuse nor paUiation whatever. It is no 
new thing in history for a nation to compel another nation 
to pay claims due to a private citizen ; and there can hardly 
be found an instance where the intervention of the Govern- 
ment of our own country would be more justifiable than in 
this. It is to be hoped, however, that a proper representa- 
tion from Washington to Bolivia, will bring about a settle- 
ment as amicable and complete as that attained upon the 
Alabama Claims between the United States and Great 
Britain. 

Very truly yours, 

DUDLEY FIELD. 



MR. OLMSTED TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, March 14, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : * * # There is one penalty to which 
any people must submit who have not attained the habits of 
patience, providence and honesty necessary for the mainte- 
nance of a strong and stable government, — that of doing 
•without the fruits of civilization ; and when those answering 



Il8 THE COLTON CLAIM 

fo • a government once acknowledge by their acts that their 
jople are in such a condition, the penalty named is sure tO' 
.jIIow; and the sooner and more widely the acknowledgment 
is published to the world, the less will there be of such crue 
injustice as Mr. Colton has suffered. 

Yours respectfully, 
FREl )ERICK LAW OLMSTED. 



JUDGE ONDERDONK TO MR. HELPER. 

Manhasset, New York, March ^g, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, £sti. 

Dear Sir : I have just arisen from a perusal of the pam- 
phlet you sent me, relating to the mean and behttling con- 
duct of the Republic of Bolivia in its dealings with Mr. Jo- 
seph H. Colton ; and the feeHngs it excites are those of 
shame and indignation ; shame that the name of Republic 
should be so profaned by such paltering, in a double sense, 
respecting a concededly just debt due to a private individual ; 
and indignation that the representatives of our government 
should evince such culpable indifference to the interests of 
a defenseless citizen, so basely trifled with. An appropriate 
function of government is to see that its citizens are not 
maltreated with impunity, in matters weighty or otherwise, 
by any foreign power. Were Mr. Colton a British subject, 
I doubt not that a frigate would, long ago, have appeared off 
the coast of BoHvia, and there enforced payment of this just 
claim at the cannon's mouth. Yet in this case, a very few 
earnest words from our Minister Resident at La Paz, or from 
our Secretary of State at Washington, would doubtless be 
efficacious, and secure the measure of justice so long with- 
held from our fellow-citizen. Other governments would cer- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. II9 

tainly interfere in such a case, and you may very properly 
urge ours to do so. It is obvious that BoHvia really never 
intends to pay Mr. Colton ; but having so often admitted 
the justice of his claim, she is, as yet, ashamed to avow her 
dishonest intentions. It would not be beneath the dignity 
of our government (and would have a salutary effect,) to 
announce to the government of Bolivia, that if it is not 
ashamed to resort to the duplicity and the baser artifices of 
diplomacy for postponing indefinitely the payment of a just 
debt, then it is incompatible Avith our honor to longer main- 
tain a Minister at her capital. Nor should we grieve to see 
some adjacent commonwealth extend over Bolivia the dig- 
nity and power of such honorable and efficient government 
as would entitle her people to hold up their heads among 
the civilized and respected peoples of the earth. I discover 
that, in the management of this matter, you have encoun- 
tered certain diplomatic jugglers, who "keep the word of 
promise to the ear, but break it to the hope," and that you 
have penetrated their designs ; for it is manifest that you 
have presented your ultimatum with rare judgment, and I 
trust that it may soon prove fitly effective. 
Sincerely, your friend, 

H. G. ONDERDONK. 



EX-MINISTER SMITH TO MR. HELPER. 

Sharon, Connecticut, March 27, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : I have carefully read your printed case against 
the government of Bolivia, in relation to the claim of Mr. 
Colton. I supposed this just debt had been settled long 
before, now, and am sorry for Mr. Colton's losses and disap- 



120 THE COLTON CLAIM 

pointments. The case as made out in your pamphlet is a 
strong one. * * * During the time I was in BoHvia, as 
Minister Resident, (I having arrived in La Paz in 1858, and 
left there in 1861,) several efforts were made to obtain from 
the government of that country payment for the maps pub- 
lished by Mr. Colton. The arrangement for the maps had 
been effected during the ministership of my immediate pre- 
decessor, the Hon. John W. Dana, Ex-Governor of Maine, 
who, before leaving Bolivia, i)ressed the claim upon the at- 
tention of President Linares, who, some time previously, had 
come into power by a revolution which ousted Jorge Cor- 
dova, the son-in-law and successor of Belzu. * * * 
President Linares was convinced of the justice of Mr. Col- 
ton's claim, and promised me it should be paid ; and I be- 
lieve hj would have kept his word, if he had only been 
favored with a somewhat longer term of office ; but, unfor- 
tunately, in March, 1861, shortly before I left the country, 
he was deposed by an intrigue of his own Cabinet, and ex- 
iled to Chili, where he soon died. Linares was a lawyer by 
profession, of good family, and of pure Caucasian descent. 
The mixture of races is the greatest curse of Bolivia, and 
Cholo and other hybrid Presidents there, have no regard 
either for personal character or public reputation. * * * 
Very truly yours, 

'jOHN COTTON SMITH. 



MR. FRISBIE TO ^IR. HELPER. 

New York, April 23, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir: Your Colton-Bolivia memorial has been re- 
ceived and perused. Although pride in general has never 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 121 

been charged against me as an item in the long h'st of my 
demerits, yet I willingly confess that I am very proud indeed 
•of one particular thing ; namely, my citizenship of the United 
States. It is true, however, that the high degree of pride 
which I have always cherished in my nationality was several 
times severely threatened, and occasionally weakened, dur- 
ing the progress of our proceedings under the Treaty of 
Washington, in the Alabama Claims question, but the final 
result of those proceedings at Geneva has sufficiently sus- 
tained my feelings of high satisfaction, which are still buoy- 
ant. Similar emotions and sentiments now affect me in re-. 
gard to the Colton Claim against Bohvia, for the National 
Maps of that Republic, pubHshed as far back as 1858, and 
obtained from the creditor under a series of artful misrepre- 
sentations and delinquencies by the debtor. 

Our government at Washington can expect to retain the 
sympathy and devotion of its best citizens, only by affording 
them, with vigilant exactness, the amplest protection and 
indemnification due from foreign aggression ; and the action 
•of Bolivia in sending here for her maps, which, strange to 
say, she has never yet paid for, and seems determined not to 
pay for, was plainly an, aggression against the rights and 
property of an American citizen ; an aggression, too, which 
has been greatly aggravated in its culpability by the extraor- 
dinary instances of double-dealing which she has constantly 
practiced toward the claimant, and toward the officials of our 
own government acting for the claimant, ever since she first 
disregarded her solemn stipulations and pledges in the prem- 
ises. Holding in view all of Bolivia's dishonored decrees 
and other assurances to Mr. Colton and his agents, and her 
innumerable broken promises to our Ministers Resident and 
Secretaries of State, covering intervals of more than fifteen 
years, our dignity as a nation, and our duty to the sacred 
principles of both individual and international just'i:e, are 



122 THE COLTON CLAIM 

unequivocally compromised. .Whether the unbounded re- 
spect and admiration which I have always entertained toward 
the government of my country will be retained in fu'l force, 
or very materially diminished, will depend in great measure 
on the action of Congress in this remarkable case, than 
which, as it affects the Government of Bolivia, I know of 
nothing more despicable or disgraceful in all the archives of 
diplomacy. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

OSCAR FRISBIK 



MR. NEWCOMB TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, April 2^^, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Your pamphlet on the subject of Bolivia's in- 
debtedness to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of this city, has b.^en 
received. Our government has frequently interposed its 
power to enforce justice to American citizens, whose rights 
of property had been outraged by foreign nations; but 
never, as it seems to me, has any such case called more 
loudly, or with better reason, for such interposition than the 
one laid bare in your vigorous pamphlet against Bolivia. 
Calmly and correctly viewed in all its bearings, the action of 
Bolivia toward our fellow-citizen, Colton, is not merely vio- 
lative of the spirit of our treaty of amity and commerce with 
that country, but, worse still, it is certainly tantamount to a 
very positive spoliation. According to my understanding 
of the case, it is clearly the duty of our government, scarcely 
less in the vindication of its own dignity, than in the enforce- 
ment of the rights of a despoiled citizen, to demand and 
compel the immediate payment of the amount so long ad- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



125 



mitted to be due ; the satisfaction of which debt Bolivia has 
so many times, in so many years of the past, solemnly and 
formally promised to our Ministers Resident at La Paz, and, 
through them, to our Secretaries of State at Washington. 
Hoping that our government will not fail to take a like view 
of the matter, and that their prompt action will result in the 
immediate payment by BoUvia of the debt due to Mr. 
Colton, 

I am, very truly, yours, 

CHARLES S. NEWCOMB. 



EX-MINISTER CARTTER TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington, May 13, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In all my intercourse with the public men of 
Bolivia, during the period of my ministership there, in the 
years 1861 and 1862, Mr. Colton's claim against the gov- 
ernment of that country was invariably recognized, and pay- 
ment promised. It is an eminently just claim, and is due 
under circumstances which should have led to its final set- 
tlement many years ago. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

D. K. CARTTER. 



MR. HELPER TO A COMMITTEE OF SENATORS. 

Washington, May 18, 1874. 
To the Honorable the Com?jiittee 

of the Senate on Foreign Affairs. 
Gentlemen: Herewith you will receive one hundred 



124 ^^^ COLTON CLAIM 

papers, numbered in regular order from i to loo, in relation 
to the very just and long-pending claim of Mr. Joseph H. 
Colton, of New York, against the Government of Bolivia ; 
which Government, for more than fifteen years, besides 
practicing every sort of deception and subterfuge upon the 
claimant and his attorneys, has been dallying most scandal- 
ously with all our Secretaries of State at Washington, and 
all our Ministers Resident in Bolivia, since 1858. The 
papers from No. i to No. 5, inclusive, contain and present the 
case in ample completeness ; the ninety-five other papers 
are merely collateral, corroborative and confirmatory. I 
have in hand, and shall have the honor of laying before you, 
if you desire to examine them, at least one hundred other 
papers, additionally elucidative of this same subject. 

Most respectfully and earnestly do I entreat you, gentle- 
men of the Committee, to cause full and speedy justice to 
be done to our worthy and aged and outraged fellow-citizen, 
the claimant. By so doing, you will give to the world 
another wholesome proof of the fact, now especially needed 
in this very case, that our uniformly veracious and upright 
international dealings are to be maintained in all their wonted 
dignity and distinctness, and that, in no country, and on no 
account, must any American embassy ever be degraded to 
the demoralizing diplomacy of duplicity and dishonesty. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 

Inclosures : That is to say, a memorandum of a series 
of accompanying vouchers, comprised in six separate bundles 
of documents numbered respectively from i to 100: 

First bundle — The Case Condensed ito5. 

Second bundle — Dispatches from Sec'y Fish - - 6 to 18. 
Third bundle — -Bolivian Documents - - - - 19 to 37. 
Fourth bundle — Diplomatic Correspondence - - 38 to 60. 
Fifth bundle — Communications to Mr. Helper - 61 to 75. 
Sixth bundle — More Bohvian Documents - - 75 to 100. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I 25 

SECRETARY FISH TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

Department of State, 
Washington, May 27, 1874. 
The Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreig7i Relations. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your note of the 26th instant, in relation to the claim of Mr. 
Joseph H. Colton against the Government of Bolivia. The 
claim in question was presented to this Department, on 
behalf of Mr. Colton, many years ago, and has several times 
been brought to its attention by the Attorney of the Claim- 
ant. This Department has considered the claim as a 
meritorious and just one against the Government of that 
Republic, and instructions- were accordingly given by the 
Department to the Diplomatic representative of this Gov- 
ernment near that of Bolivia, to use his good offices with 
the Bolivian authorities in the claimant's behalf, with a view 
of facilitating its adjustment and payment. The claim, 
however, being one originating in a contract vohmtarily 
entered into by a citizen of the United States with the Gov- 
ernment of Bolivia, belongs to a class of claims in regard to 
which it is not the usage of this Government to put forth ' 
diplomatic interposition otherwise than by the exercise of 
its good offices. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

Your otedient servant, 
HAMILTON FISH. 

SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, Ju7ie 3, 1874. 
Hinton. R Helper, Esq., Washington. 

Sir: Your letter of the 30th ultimo, concerning the claim 



120 THE COLTON CLAIM 

of Mr. J. H. Colton against the Government of Bolivia, has 
been received. In reply I have to state that a letter, under 
date of the 27th ultimo, upon the subject of his claim, was 
sent by the Department to the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions of the Senate, on the 27th ultimo. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



DR. WOOLSEY TO MR. HELPER. 

Cornwall, Connecticut, August 8, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : I am in the country, away from home, and 
from my books, which are in New Haven ; but the princi- 
ple in the case of Colton against Bolivia, is so clear that 
it liardly needs to be fortified by the opinions of others. 
You will find in my work on International Law, in the first 
pages relating to the legitimate grounds of war, the remark 
tliat })rivate claims on foreign powers, as well as public in- 
juries, demand intervention on the part of the Government 
to which the wronged individual owes allegiance. 
Yours, very truly, 

THEODORE D. WOOLSEY. 



OPINION OF DR. THEODORE D. WOOLSEY. 

Cornwall, Connecticut, August^, 1874. 
From an examination of the papers relating to the claim 
of Joseph H. Colton, of New York, against the Republic of 
Bolivia, it appears : 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



127 



1. That the work done by him, for the said Republic, in 
engraving a Map of Bolivia and printing ten thousand 
copies thereof, was done on contract made between him 
and authorized agents of Bolivia, and that no complaint 
appears ever to have been made that he did not faithfully 
fulfill his part of the contract. 

2. That the Government and the Congress of Bolivia 
have repeatedly acknowledged the debt to Mr. Colton, and 
that there have been several Congressional acts in Bolivia* 
authorizing payment of the amount due to him. 

3. That he has been put off for many years, and that ten 
years have expired since the passage of the final act of the 
Bohvian Congress authorizing such payment for the last ") 
time. 

In despair of otherwise recovering the money, Mr. Colton 
now appeals to the Congress of the United States for jus- 
tice in his behalf I am asked, as a person supposed to be ' 
acquainted with the principles of International Law applica- 
ble to this case, what my opinion is in regard to the rights 
and duties of the United States Government as the author- 
ized and only protector of citizens who have been wronged 
by foreign powers. 

The law applicable to the case is simple enough. If there 
were a clear intention to evade the payment of a just claim, 
the United States would be authorized to make the demand 
with a threat of resort to force in case the payment 
should not be made within a certain time; or possibly 
reprisals might be resorted to on the property of Bolivians 
within the territory of the United States, if any such could 
be found. If there is a mere inability to pay a just debt, 
owing to the poverty of the Government, that is an alledged 
inabiHty,— 'the United States must judge whether such ina- 
bility really exists, and must act accordingly. 

In many cases of debt due to a private person fi-om a 



128 THE COLTON CLAIM 

foreign power, the original contract, or some subsequent 
transaction, may be open to suspicion, so as to afford a pre- 
text at least for delay, or even for an absolute denial of pay- 
ment. In this case, there appears to be no room for any 
such plea. It is admitted by all publicists that the obliga- 
tions of States are not affected by any political changes or 
revolutions of any kind. Nothing that has happened, or 
can happen, in Bolivia, can destroy the force of an obliga- 
tion once entered into like the one in question. 

These opinions are expressed in reply to a let:er from Mr- 
Helper, and are given without fee or reward. 

THEODORE D. WOOLSEY. 



OPINION OF WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 

Nev/ York, Scptatiher 28, 1874. , 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : I have examined ]\Ir. Colton's claim against 
the Republic of Bolivia, as presented in his memorial to the 
Congress of the United States, and have read Dr. Woolsey's 
opinion under date of August 8, 1874; and I entirely concur 
in the opinion given you by that eminent publicist. In the 
absence of any plea of inability to pay this admitted debt of 
the RepubHc of BoHvia, made in good faith, and accepted 
as true by our own Government, it seems the manifest duty 
of the latter to compel the payment of the money due Mr. 
Colton, by the ordinary coercive processes known among, 
nations and justified by International Law. 

I am yours, very truly, 

WM. M. EVARTS. 



AGAINST P30LIVIA. 12^ 

OPINION OF GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. 

New York, September Z, 1874.- 
H, R. Helper, Esq, 

Dear Sir: It appears, from the papers which you have 
laid before me, that the Republic of Bolivia is, and has been 
for fifteen years, indebted to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, a citizen 
of the United States, in a sum now exceeding forty thousand 
dollars in gold, principal and interest ; that this debt, origi- 
nally accrued on contract, has been repeatedly acknowledged 
by the BoHvian Government in various forms, and repeated 
promises to pay it have been made, none of which have 
been fulfilled as to any part of it ; and that, especially on the 
first day of February, 1872, the President of the Republic, 
Senor Morales, issued a decree which was countersigned by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, again admitting this debt, 
and promising " refigiously " to pay it " out of the first funds 
that are obtained from the loan authorized by the Congress 
of 1871 ;" and ordering the Director-General of Accounts t(^ 
register the obligation to Mr. Colton ; which last promise of 
payment has been neglected, like the preceding ones ; 
although in June and July, 1^72, the Republic negotiated in 
London a loan of $10,000,000. Under these circumstances, 
you ask me, What is Mr. Colton's remedy ? 

It is an undoubted principle of international law, that a 
State cannot be sued in its own or in any other court, unless 
it has expressly agreed to be subject to that form of redress. 
For this reason, the law of nations has long admitted that 
the State whose citizens or subjects have suffered any wrong 
at the hands of another State, may demand for them full 
redress and satisfaction, and may enforce that demand by- 
reprisals or by war. The government whose citizen is 
injured has only to be satisfied of the justice of his demand, 
and that justice has been denied; and in Mr. Colton's cas^- 



13© THE COLTON CLAIM 

the debt has been so often and so solemnly admitted by the 
Government of Bolivia, that the United States can have no 
occasion to make farther inquiry. The repeated failures to 
pay what has been so repeatedly promised, amount to a de- 
nial of justice, as flagrant and palpable as if the Governn^ent 
of Bolivia had refused to admit the debt. Under these cir- 
cumstances, principle and practice alike require that the 
Government of the United States demand from the Govern- 
ment of Bolivia immediate payment of this claim. 

We are most familiar with the exercise of this national 
right to enforce the claims of individuals, in cases of tortious 
injury to person or property, inflicted by a foreign State. 
But the public law makes no distinction between cases of 
tort and cases of contract. The text-writers, from Grotius 
to Wheaton and to Phillimore, rest the practice on the prin- 
ciple that, as there is no other mode of redress by which 
justice can be obtained, it is the right of the president or 
sovereign, whose fellow-citizen or subject has suffered any 
'^rong at the hands of a foreign State, to compel justice to 
be done. If the law of nations were to make any distinc- 
tion between debts arising upon contract and claims for 
compensation for tort, — if it were to admit that the promise 
of a State to pay a sum of money to an individual foreigner 
is not within the principle that authorizes a State to compel 
justice to be done to its citizens or subjects by other States, 
■ — one of the chief supports of the public credit of govern- 
ments would be swept away. Governments are enabled to 
bind the nations which they rule, in contracts with indi- 
viduals, and so to secure what they could not otherwise 
command, because the public law treats the government as 
the agent of the nation, and regards a national pecuniary 
obligation, when it is once clearly incurred, as a claim which 
the State to which the holder of that obhgation belongs may, 
if need be, enforce upon the property of the State that owes 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I3I 

the debt, or upon the property of its citizens or subjects, 
wherever it can be found. Of all the countries in the world, 
it concerns the United States not to allow any relaxation of 
this principle, for we are a great debtor nation; our public 
debts are largely held by foreigners ; and while no one has 
yet had occasion to impugn our national honor, our Gov- 
ernment cannot afford to deny that the foreign holder of our 
national promises to pay, has the ultimate security of a col- 
lection of his debt by his president or sovereign, if he shall 
■ever need that remedy. I hold it to be just as clear that 
the United States can enforce payment of a simple contract 
debt, admitted to be due by a foreign State to a citizen of 
the United States, as that they can compel a foreign State to 
make compensation for any tortious injury or trespass on 
my property or person, committed by the direct authority, 
or through the culpable negligence of a foreign power. To 
say nothing of the other and former promises, the decree 
of February i, 1872, signed by President Morales, belongs 
to the highest class of pecuniary obligations, being of as 
solemn and special a nature as a bond would be, executed 
under all the forms and sanctions of law. 

The diplomatic department of the Government of the 
United States is the department to which it belongs to 
■demand payment of this claim. I do not well see how the 
State Department can refuse to act in this case ; and if it 
has not already given instructions to our Minister in Bolivia 
to make a peremptory demand in behalf of Mr. Colton, I 
cannot doubt that it will do so, when fully informed of die 
facts. 

If, after such demand, it should become necessary to resort 
to reprisals, it would be proper for Congress to pass a joint 
resolution giving authority to the President to apply that 
remedy. Neither the fact that this claim is the claim of a 
single individual, nor the amount of the demand, can vary 



132 THE COLTON CLAIM 

the principle which determines the power and the duty of 
the United States to act in the manner I have suggested. 
The public law does not require that a claim of this nature 
should rise to a certain specific dignity before it can become 
a subject of international action. All the dignity that is 
requisite is reached when it appears that there is a palpable 
denial of justice; and when this is the case, a government 
that does its duty to its citizens is just as much bound to 
act upon a case of forty thousand as it could be to act upon 
a case of forty millions of money. 

I am, sir, yours, very respectfully, 

GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. 



OPINION OF DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. 

New York, November 19, 1874. 
Mr. Hinton Rowan Helper has asked my opinion upon 
the right and duty of the United States to intervene, either 
by persuasion or force, for the purpose of obtaining from 
the Government of Bolivia the payment of a certain debt 
due to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of the city of New York. 
The debt, amounting to forty thousand dollars and upwards, 
including interest, is for maps of BoHvia ordered by the 
Government, and engraved and printed by Mr. Colton. The 
Government of that country admits the debt to be due, has 
often, in the most solemn manner, through both the execu- 
tive and legislative departments, engaged to pay it, and is 
and has for years been able to fulfill the engagement. I am 
of opinion that it is not only the right, but also the duty, 
of the United States to intervene, and for the following 
reasons, among others : 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



^33 



First: Every nation owes to its members the mainte- 
nance of their rights. So long as it exacts allegiance and 
obedience, so long is it bound, by the corresponding 
obligation, to protect. This results from the relations 
between the citizen and the State. 

Second : Commerce, in its double signification of inter- 
course and traffic, may lawfully be carried on between one 
nation and it's members, and the other nations and their 
members. From this arises an obligation on the part of 
every nation to protect the members of other natioils coming 
to it in their lawful commerce, and to enforce engagements 
made with them. 

Third: The obHgation of a nation can be enforced only 
by other nations. This results from the fact, that a member 
of a nation cannot do it, both because he is forbidden, and 
because he is too weak. He is forbidden by his own nation 
to assert his rights by violence, or to do anything for himself 
in respect to a foreign nation, except to resort to its tribu- 
nals, and to ask of its government. 

Hence arise two obligations, that of Bolivia to Mr. Col- 
ton, a foreigner, to pay him the debt contracted, and that 
of the Uni el States to Mr. Colton, their citizen, to enforce 
the obhgation of Bolivia. In other words, the claim of Mr. 
Colton upon Bolivia, should be taken up and enforced by 
the nation to which he belongs, the claim being admitted, 
he himself being powerless to enforce it, and his nation 
being bound to maintain his rights. I am here stating a 
doctrine of international law, as applicable to a particular 
case. It is not a new doctrine. We have enforced it against 
France, and against Mexico. England is committed to it. 
So long ago as 1848, Lord Palmerston, who was then the 
Foreign Secretary of the British Government, dispatched a 
circular to the British Representatives abroad, in respect to 
the claims of holders of foreign bonds, in which he used 
this languase : 



134 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



" If the question is to be considered simply in its bearing 
upon International Right, there can be no doubt whatever 
of the perfect right which the government of every country 
possesses to take up, as a matter of diplomatic negotiation, 
any well-founded complaint which any of its subjects may 
prefer against the government of another country, or any 
wrong which, from such foreign government, those subjects 
may have sustained; and if the government of one country 
is entitled to demand redress for any one individual among 
its subjects who may have a just but unsatisfied pecuniary 
claim upon the government of another country, the right to 
require redress cannot be diminished merely because the 
extent of the wrong is increased, and because, instead of 
there being only one individual claiming a comparatively 
small sum, there are a great number of individuals to whom 
a very large amount is due." 

Many considerations of policy and public morality might 
easily be adduced, also, to fortify the legal doctrine. It is 
the policy of all governments to do justice themselves, and 
to enforce it upon others. This, especially, is the policy of 
republican governments. They cannot afford an unfavor- 
able comparison with governments of an aristocratical or 
monarchical character ; for, more than these, they rest upon 
pubHc opinion and moral considerations. Nor can they 
safely exhibit to their own people examples of disregard or 
even indifference to honesty or honor. The United States 
best consult their own interests and their own reputation, 
when they demand justice from another nation for one of 
their own citizens. BoUvia, too, will best consult her inter- 
ests and her reputation by yielding gracefully to the inter- 
vention of the United States. Foreigners will the more 
readily trust . her in the future, if they find that, in dealing 
with her, they have not only the guarantee of her good 
faith, but also the guarantee of the pubHc law of the world. 

DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I 35 

OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Grotius. 

In his remarkable and excellent work on the " Rights of 
Peace and War," Grotius said: — " To natural law bc;longs 
the rule of abstaining from that which belongs to others ; 
and if we have in our possession anything of another's, the 
restitution of it, or of any gain which we have made from 
it; the fulfilling of promises, and the reparation of damage 
done by fault; and the recognition of certain things as mer- 
iting punishment among men. * * * People who vio- 
late the laws of nature and nations beat down the bulwark 
of their own tranquilHty for future time. This performance 
of promises proceeds from the nature of immutable justice. 
If the promiser has been negligent in inquiring into the 
matter, or in expressing his intention, and another person 
has thereby suffered loss, the promiser vv^ill be bound to 
make that loss good ; not by the force of his promise, but 
as having done damage by his fault." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS. — Puffendorf. 

In his learned work " On the Law of Nature and Na- 
tions," Puffendorf says : — "A perfect promise is when a man 
not only determines his will to the performance of such or 
such a thing for another hereafter, but, likewise, shows that 
he gives the other a full right of requiring it from him. And 
as of individuals, in this respect, so also of nations and gov- 
ernments." 



X36 THE COLTON CLAIM 

OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Vattel. 

In his " Law of Nations," page 161, Vattel says: — "We 
have the right to obtain justice by force, if we cannot obtain 
it otherwise, or to pursue our right by force of arms. * * 
* If there were a people who made open profession of 
trampling justice under foot, — who despised and violated 
the rights of others whenever they found an opportunity, — 
the interests of human society would authorize all other na- 
tions to form a confederacy in order to humble and chastise 
the delinquents. If, by her constant maxims, and by the 
whole tenor of her conduct, a nation evidently proves her- 
self to be actuated by that mischievous disposition, — if she 
regards no right as sacred, — the safety of the human race 
requires that she should be repressed." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Phillimore. 

In his great work on International Law, volume II, page 8, 
phillimore says: — "The right of interference on the part of 
a State, for the purpose of enforcing the performance of 
justice to its citizens from a foreign State, stands upon an 
unquestionable foundation, when the foreign State has be- 
come itself the debtor of these citizens. It must, of course, 
be assumed that such State has, through the medium of its 
proper and legitimate organs, contracted such debt ; whether 
that organ be the sovereign alone, according to the consti- 
tution of Russia, or the Sovereign and Parliament, accord- 
ing to the constitution of England, the debt as con- 
tracted with foreign citizens, whether in an individual or a 
corporate capacity, constitutes an obligation of which the 
^country of the lenders has a right to require and enforce the 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



137 



fulfillment." Again, in volume II, page i2,Phillimore says: 
— " The obligation of the State debtor is, if possible, yet 
stronger when the debt has been guaranteed by treaty. For 
in that case, the foreign may be entitled to a preference over 
the domestic creditor." (Mr. Colton's claim has been 
" guaranteed " by at least six formal and official acts of the 
Bolivian Government, and by an almost countless number of 
diplomatic promises. It has, indeed, been one vast system 
of " guaranteeing " ever since the year 1858. H. R. H.) 
Again, in volume III, page 34, Phillimore says : — " One of 
the grounds of the war between the United States and 
Mexico, was the non-payment of debts due from the Gov- 
ernment of that country to citizens of the United States." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Wildman. 

In his "Institutes of International Law," volume I, pages 
187 and 188, Wildman says: — "When a State refuses to 
repair any injury, or to pay a debt, or to redress any wrong, 
the State that is injured may seize anything that belongs 
to the offending State, and detain or confiscate it in satisfac- 
tion of such wrong. For this purpose the property of all 
private persons forms part of the State whereof they are 
members, whether as native-bom citizens or as persons 
domiciled therein. * * * As every State considers an 
injury to any one of its citizens as an injury to itself, it is not 
unjust that they should be liable for the obHgations of the 
State, which is bound to indemnify them for any losses 
which may ensue." 



138 THE COLTON CLAIM 

OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Marshall. 

In the case 'of Marbury vs. Madison, Chief Justice Mar- 
shall, one of the ablest and purest jurisconsults of any age 
or country, said : 

" The very essence of civil liberty consists in the right of 
every individual to claim the protection of the laws when- 
ever he receives an injury. One of the first duties of Gov- 
ernment is to afford that protection. In Great Britain the 
king himself is sued in the respectful form of a petition, 
and he never fails to comply with the judgment of his 
court." Again, in the case of Ogden vs. Saunders, Judge 
Marshall said: " So far back as human research carries us, 
we find the judicial power, as a part of the executive, 
administering justice by the application of remedies to vio- 
lated rights, or broken contracts. We find that power apply- 
ing these remedies on the idea of a preexisting obligation on 
every man to do what he has promised on condition to do; 
that the breach of this obligation is an injury for which the. 
injured party has a just claim to compensation, and that 
society ought to afford him a remedy for that injury. * * 
* In a state of nature, individuals may contract, their con- 
tracts are obligatory, and force may rightfully be employed 
to coerce the party who has broken his engagement. Inde- 
pendent nations are individuals in a State of nature.. 
Whence is derived the obligation of their contracts ? They 
admit the existence of no superior legislative power which 
is to give them vaHdity ; yet their validity is acknowledged 
by all. If one of these contracts be broken, all admit the 
right of the injured party to demand reparation for the 
injury, and to enforce that reparation if it be withheld. He 
may not have the power to enforce it, but the whole civiHzed 
world concurs in saying that the power, if possessed, is 
rightly used. In society, the wrong-doer may be too pow- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



139 



erful for the law. He may deride its coercive power; yet 
his contracts are obHgatory ; and if society acquire the power 
of coercion, that power will be applied without previously 
enacting that his contract is obhgatory. The rightfulness 
of coercion must depend on the preexisting obligation to 
do that for which compulsion is used. It is no objection 
to the principle, that the injured party may be the weaker. 
# * # Every man retains the right to acquire property, 
to dispose of that propq;-ty according to his own judgment, 
and to pledge himself for a future act. These rights are 
not given by society, but are brought into it. The right 
of coercion is necessarily surrendered to government, and 
this surrender imposes on government the correlative duty 
of furnishing a remedy." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Kent. 

In the very first chapter of the first volume of his perspic- 
uous and profound Commentaries on American Law, Chan- 
cellor Kent says : 

"The law of nations, as it is now understood by us and 
by the European world, is the offspring of modern times. 
The most refined States among the ancients seem to have 
had no conception of the moral obligations of justice and 
humanity between nations ; and with tliem there was no 
such thing in existence as the science of international law. 
They regarded strangers and enemies as nearly synonymous, 
and considered foreign persons and property as laAvful 
prize. * * * Grotious has been justly considered as 
the father of the law of nations. He arose like a splendid 
luminary, dispelhng darkness and confusion, and imparting 
light and security to the intercourse of nations. It has been 



140 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



said that Lord Bacon's works first suggested to Grotius the 
idea of reducing the law of nations to the certainty and 
precision of a regular science. Grotious has himself fully 
explained the reasons which led him to undertake his neces- 
sary and most useful and immortal work. * * * His 
■object was to correct all false theories and pernicious max- 
ims, by showing a community of sentiment among the wise 
and learned of all nations and ages, in favor of the natural 
law of morality. He likewise undertook to show that jus- 
tice was of perpetual obligation, and essential to the well- 
being of every society, and that the great commonwealth 
of nations stood in need of law, and the observance of 
faith, and the practice of justice. * * * There is a 
natural and a positive law of nations. By the former, every 
State, in its relations with other States, is bound to conduct 
itself with justice, good faith and benevolence ; and this 
application of the law of nature has been called the neces- 
sary law of nations, because. nations are bound by the law 
•of nature to observe it ; and it is also termed the internal 
law of nations, because it is obligatory upon them in point 
of conscience. We ought not to separate the science of 
public law from that of ethics, nor encourage the dangerous 
suggestion that governments are not so strictly bound by 
the obligations of truth, justice and humanity, in relation to 
other powers as they are in the management of their own 
local concerns. States, or bodies politic, are to be consid- 
ered as moral persons, having a public will, capable and free 
to do right and wrong, inasmuch as they are col'ections of 
individuals, each of whom carries with him into the service 
of the community the same binding law of morality which 
-ought to control his conduct in private life." 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



141 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— President 
, Jackson. 

In the case of the neglect of the French Chambers to 
make the proper appropriations for the indemnity agreed 
to be paid to the United States, by the treaty of July 4, 
1 83 1, which was itself a recognition of the principle that 
authorizes a nation to demand compensation for spoliations 
on the property of its citizens, whatever changes may occur 
in the government of the country that inflicts the injury, 
President i\ndrew Jackson, in his message to Congress, of 
December, 1834, said (as quoted approvingly by Phillimore, 
volume III, page 33, and by Lawrence, in his Wheaton, 
page 508): 

" It is a well-settled principle of the International Code 
that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which 
it refuses or neglects to pay, the aggrieved party may seize 
on the property belonging to the other, its citizens, or sub- 
jects, sufficient to pay the debt, without giving just cause of 
war. * * * If an appropriation shall not be made by 
the French Chambers at their next session, it may justly be 
concluded, that the Govenment of France has finally deter- 
mined to disregard its own solemn undertaking, and refused 
to pay an acknowledged debt. In that event, every day's 
delay on our part will be a stain upon our national honor, as 
weh as a denial of justice to our injured citizens." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Wheaton, Law- 
ENCE, Seward. 

In his edition of Wheaton's International Law, page 157, 
William Beach Lawrence thus quotes from Secretary Sew- 



142 THE COLTON CLAIM 

ard's dispatch of December 4, i86i,to the Prime Ministers 
of Great Britain, France and Spain, in prudent prptest 
against the armed intervention of those powers in the 
domestic affairs of Mexico ; it being at a time, too, when 
we ourselves, as a nation, were unfortunately involved in a 
great civil conflict : 

" It is true that the United States have, on their part, claims 
to urge against Mexico. Upon due consideration, however, 
the President is of opinion that it would be inexpedient to 
seek satisfaction of their claims at this time through an act 
of accession to the convention of Great Britain, France, and 
Spain. * * * The United States habitually cherish a 
decided good-will toward Mexico, and a lively interest in its 
security, prosperity, and welfare. * * * Animated by 
these sentiments, the United States do not feel inclined to 
resort to forcible remedies for their claims at the presjnt 
moment." Again, Wheaton, Lawrence, page 506, says : "Re- 
prisials are negative (as opposed to positive,) when a State 
refuses to fulfill a perfect obligation which it has contracted." 

Again, the same authorities, page 509, say: — "The recla- 
mation made on Mexico by England, France and Spain, in 
1 86 1, seemed to pass beyond the ordinary case of reprisals 
for tortious spoHations and violated contracts." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Woolsey. 

In his work on International Law, page 17 1, Woolsey says : 
— " A contract is one of the highest acts of human free will ; 
it is the will binding itself in regard to the future, and sur- 
rendering its right to change a certain expressed intention, 
so that it becomes morally and jurally wrong to act other- 
wise. * * * National contracts are even more solemn 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



143 



-and sacred than private ones, on account of the great inter- 
ests involved, of the deliberations with which the obligations 
are assumed, of the permanence and generality of the obli- 
gations, — measured by the national life, and including thou- 
sands of particular cases, — and of each nation's calling to 
be a teacher of right to all within and without its borders." 



OBLIGATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS.— Halleck. 

In his International Law, page 313, Halleck says : " The 
justifiable causes of war are mjuries received or threatened. 
There must be a strong probability that the threat may be 
attempted to be carried into execution, as mere empty words 
will seldom justify us in declaring war. It is not necessary 
that the injuries should be material or physical, as a national 
insult is often as injurious as the robbery of a province. The 
justifiable objects of a war may, therefore, be divided into 
three classes or subdivisions, ist. To secure what belongs 
or is due to us ; 2nd, To provide for our future safety by 
obtaining reparation for injuries done to us; and 3d, To pro- 
tect ourselves and property from a threatened injury. * * 
* If one show^s a clear and valid title to a thing in dis- 
pute, and has first resorted to the amicable modes of settHng 
the question upon an ecfuitable footing, and has been re- 
fused all reasonable offers of adjustment, he may be justifi- 
able in resorting to force for the recovery of what really and 
truly belongs to him." 



144 THE COLTON CLAIM 

SENATOR CAMERON TO MR. HELPER. 

Harrisburg, Penn., October 25, 1874. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esq., Neiv York. 

Dear Sir: I have received the letter you addressed to> 
me on the 20th instant, on my return from California, and. 
have read the copies of the several papers attached. Please 
send the originals of these papers to my address in Wash- 
ington, about the first week of the coming session ; and I 
will endeavor to secure prompt attention on the part of the 
Committee. Yours truly, 

SIMON CAMERON. 



MR. HELPER TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

New York, December i, 1874. 
Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Chairman of the Senate Committee on 

Foreign Affairs^ Washington. 
Sir: Acting in conformity with the suggestion contained 
in the note which I had the honor to receive from you, under 
date of the 25th of October last, in reply to mine of the 20th 
of the same month, I herewith inclose to you the following 
additional vouchers, in the case of* the rightful and oft-ad- 
mitted claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton against the Govern- 
ment of Bolivia. * * * Sincerely thanking you for your 
assurance that you "will endeavor to secure prompt attention 
on the part of the Committee," and trusting that the atten- 
tion so given will well accord with the highest principles of 
individual justice, governmental equity, diplomatic veracity, 
and international honor. 

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 14^ 

MR. COLTON TO SENATOR CONKLING. 

New York, December 7, 1874. 
Hon. Roscoe Conkling, United States Senator, 

Dear Sir : Another session of Congress is now open, and 
I am still suffering the gross and oppressive injustice which 
the Government of Bolivia, notwithstanding our uninter- 
rupted and friendly diplomatic relations with that Republic, 
has been permitted to inflict upon me, with impunity, ever 
since the year 1858. In the seventy-fifth year of my age, I 
now again earnesdy appeal to my own Government for the 
simple measure of redress which I have hitherto sought in 
vain. Within the last day or two, my present and perma- 
nent attorney in this case, Mr. Helper, has written to Sena- 
tors Cameron and HamUn, renewing the offer of his best 
services in my behalf, whether in or out of Washington ; and 
I sincerely trust that you, and the other members of your 
honorable Committee, may be pleased to cooperate with- 
him in at last securing my rights, — so far as it is now pos- 
sible to secure those rights, — from Boh via without further 
delay. 

As for the large sum of expenses, amounting to over" 
$27,000, legitimately and unavoidably incurred by me, dur- 
ing the last sixteen years, in unavailing efforts to obtain my 
just dues from the Government of Bolivia, is there no easy 
and proper way for me to recover those expenses in addi- 
tion to the amount of principal and interest so frequently 
admitted by the Government itself to be due and payable ta 
me ? I ask this question, not as now making any new de- 
mand, but rather as a matter affecting the purer principles 
of international law and equity, and as the statement of a 
fact, a very serious fact for me, which ought, I think, to im- 
part much weight to my jtition, already before you, for the 
prompt intervention of the Government of the United 

9 



146 THE COLTOX CLAIM 

States for the righting of at least the acknowledged part of 
this great wrong. Pray be good enough to lay before the 
honorable Chairman of your Committee, Senator Cameron, 
the suggestions thus submitted. 

1 have the honor to be, most resi)ectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



MR. HELPER TO SENATOR HAMLIN. 

New York, December 7, 1874. 
Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, United States Senator. 

Dear Sir: Having already spent at Washington a con- 
siderable part of no less than three sessions of Congress, in 
the sincere but unsuccessful effort to obtain at least an 
approximation • to justice for my foreign-aggrieved client, 
Mr. Joseph H. Colton, a worthy and exemplary citizen of 
the United States, who, for the last sixteen years, has been 
a helpless victim of the atrocious duplicity and dishonesty 
of the Bolivian Government, I have, in the hope of avoid- 
ing the sacrifice of still more time and labor and money, 
concluded not to go again to the national Capital, on this 
truth-throttled and equity-butchered business, unless the 
Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, before whom 
all the important papers in the case are now awaiting atten- 
tion, shall indicate that my presence, as attorney for the aged 
and infirm claimant, may be necessary. At any time, how- 
ever, that I may be honored with such an indication from 
your Committee, I shall be happy to respond to it in person, 
without a day's delay ; and I may here frankly inform you, 
that I am anxiously desirous to receive an intimation that 
.my verbal testimony and explanation, in an ante-room of the 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I47 

Capitol, would be welcome in this connection, provided the 
numerous papers now on file before you are not super- 
abundantly sufficient to warrant the Committee in reporting 
the simple Resolution solicited. Trusting that, because of 
the shortness of the present session of Congress, your hon- 
orable Committee may at once find it convenient to act 
wisely and justly on this case, and so let it soon go to the 
House for right action there ; and trusting further, that you 
will be kind enough to submit this communication to the 
Hon. Simon Cameron, Chairman of your Committee, whose 
enlightened attention I thus again earnestly and respectfully 
invoke in this regard, 

I have the honor to be, very truly. 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SENATOR MERRIMON TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington, December 9, 1874. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir : I am just in receipt of your letter of yester- 
day, and beg to say in reply, that I will cheerfully call the 
matter of the claim against Bolivia, in favor of Mr. Colton, 
to the attention of Senators McCreery and Schurz, to-day, 
and hope they will co-operate with the Committee in com- 
ing to a conclusion on the subject without further delay. I 
hardly think you could hasten action on the case, if you 
v/ere present, particularly as there is no question at all about 
the proofs. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

A. S. MERRIMON. 



148 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

New York, December 19, 1874. 
Hox. Simon Cameron, 

Chairman of the Senate Committee on 

Foreign Affairs, Washington. 

Sir : If the Colton claim against Bolivia has been regu- 
larly referred for examination and report, please place in the 
hands of the gentleman having the vouchers in charge, the 
inclosed additional paper, suggestive of the form of a Res- 
olution, which would seem to be proper and requisite in the 
premises. The Hon. Godlove S. Orth, Chairman of the 
House Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom I personally 
submitted this paper, at Washington, in May last, suggested 
one or two slight modifications, upon which he assured me 
he would support the proposed Resolution ; but whatever 
modifications may be determined on, I should prefer to have 
them made by you, or by your Committee ; only begging leave 
to premise, however, that any view of the case which accepts 
and treats the bulk of Bolivians as being impressed with any 
such elevated convictions of truth and honor as are charac- 
teristic of ordinarily civilized and enlightened nations, will 
prove as certainly fatal to justice and all right dealing, as 
the recently attempted application of Quaker ethics to the 
savage Modocs proved futile for the purposes of innocence 
and peace. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 1 49 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, Jamcary ^, 1875. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir: Right heartily do Mr. Colton and I thank you for 
your letter of last Thursday, informing us that you are now 
urging the payment of his fully and specifically admitted 
claim against the Government of Bolivia, and, in connec- 
tion with that information, transcribing an extract from one 
of Minister Reynolds' dispatches to you. No. 24, wherein 
he says President Frias has assured him that the money so 
long overdue shall certainly be paid some time this winter. 
Pray pardon us, however, if we express a real apprehension 
that this last assurance of President Frias, so much Hke 
many of his former assurances, is only a new and enticing 
refrain of a very trite old song, — a Siren Song of Sixteen 
Summers, — which, because of its incessant and monotonous 
vibrations against our auditory nerves, has ceased to charm 
our ears or soothe our souls. 

To us who have, during so many long and weary years, 
been the victims of so much diplomatic duplicity and dis- 
honor on the part of BoHvia, this autumnal pledge of Presi- 
dent Frias, — penned to our Minister in November, — looks 
amazingly like the first measure of a new crop of piecrust 
promises, which BoHvia is so skilled in making and breaking 
with equal ease. In fidelity to the general principles of truth 
and honor, in vindication of the sincerity and efficiency of 
American diplomacy, and in simple justice to a long .and 
grievously outraged citizen of the United States, you, as our 
honored Secretary of State, and Congress and President 
Grant, as our supreme protectors of the Hves and properties 
of the members in general of a great nationality, will, I 
trust, soon stop forever the criminal dilly-dallying and au- 
dacity of Bolivia, in this matter, and compel her, under just 



150 THE COLTON CLAIM 

penalties, to discharge at once the very obvious duties which 
she has so long and so wickedly shirked, in contempt of Mr. 
Colton's rights and interests. 

There is neither fitness nor respectability in such a coun- 
try exhibiting herself^ for sixteen years consecutively, — and 
always without choking or even blushing with chagrin, — 
upon maps of her own ordering, but for which she has never 
yet paid. Whether there is either dignity or any other sort 
of propriety in our acting toward such a country as one 
worthy of diplomatic or international recognition, is, I think, 
a question which ought soon to be seriously reconsidered 
by the Congress of the United States. In my opinion, the 
abolition of our mission to Bolivia would be a very just and 
prudent piece of American legislation. Again sincerely 
thanking you for the information contained in your letter of 
last week, 

I am, sir, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SENATOR MERRI]\ION TO MR. HELPER. 

United States Senate Chamber, 
Washington, Febj-uary 13, 1875. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir : I have received your letter of the 1 2th in- 
stant, and have just had an interview with Senator Howe 
in reference to the Resolution to which you refer. He is 
anxious to call up and pass the Resolution, and will do so 
the first opportunity. In the regular course of business, it 
will probably be called within five or six days from this time. 
I do not think there will be any objection to it ; and I trust 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I5I 

it may so well serve the purpose for which it was designed 
as to secure an early paymtnt of the debt. 
Yours, very truly, 

A. S. MERRIMON, 



MR. HELPER TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

New York, February 22, 1875, 
Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Chairman of the Senate Committee o?i 

Foreign Affairs, Washington. 
Dear Sir : My aged and esteemed friend, Mr. Joseph H. 
Colton, of this city, chafed by a keen sense of being the vic- 
tim of sixteen years of diplomatic chicanery and injustice, per- 
petrated against him by a degraded and vicious nationality 
with which the United States are maintaining regular inter- 
national lelations, is very anxious about the passage of Sen- 
ate Bill No. 1156, Report No. 531, in the matter of his 
claim against the Government of Bolivia. Will you be kind 
enough to inform me as to the present status and prospect of 
the Bill ? Has it yet passed the Senate? and if not, can you 
not, with perfect fairness and propriety of action, call it up 
and pass it without further delay? Or, is it at all likely that I 
could, in any way, by my presence at Washington, faciHtate 
the passage of the Bill through Congress? If my personal 
attention is thought to be necessary, I shall be glad to give 
it immediately. Nevertheless, I should prefer to be spared 
the additional expense and time and fatigue and risk of 
having to go again to Washington, whither, — the same as 
to various other places on no less than three of the conti- 
nents of the earth, — I have hitherto gone, again and again,. 



1^2 THE COLTON CLAIM 

in the fruitless and heart-sickening search for justice in this 
affair. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SENATOR HOWE TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington, February 23, 1875. 
H. R. Helper. Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir : It is not probable that you could advance 
Mr. Colton's Bill if you were here. It will doubtless pass 
when the Committee on Foreign Relations is called in the 
Senate, and it cannot pass before. That Committee will 
probably be called within four days. 

Yours, truly, 

T. O. HOWE. 



SENATOR CAMERON TO MR. HELPER. 

United States Senate Chamber, 
Washington, February 23, 1875. 
H. R. Helper. Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir : In regard to the Bill for the relief of Mr. 
Colton, it is in the condition of many others. The crush is 
great and the time is short. I hope it may be reached, and 
I think you might be able to aid it if you were here. 
Yours, trulv, 

SIMON CAMERON. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I 53 

SENATOR HAMLIN TO MR. HELPER. 

United States Senate Chamber, 
Washington, February 23, 1875. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York, 

Dear Sir : I have your note of yesterday. In answer 
to the question therein asked, " Is my presence at Washing- 
ton necessary to the passage of Mr. Colton's Bill against 
Bolivia ?" I have to say that, in my opinion, it is not. 
Very truly, yours, 

A. HAMLIN. 



MR. HELPER TO SENATORS HOWE AND HAMLIN. 

New York, February 26, 1875. 
Senators Howe and Hamlin, Washington. 

Gentlemen : Another evidence of disagreement between 
doctors, — in this case the doctors being doctors of the 
maladies of States and nations, — appears in the notes which 
I had the honor to receive, yesterday, from each of you, 
respectively, on the one hand, and from Senator Cameron, 
Chairman of your Committee, on the other. It seems that 
both of you hold the opinion that my presence at Wash- 
ington would not be likely to advance the passage of Mr. 
Colton's Bill against Bolivia. Senator Cameron says: "I 
think you might be able to aid it, if you were here." This 
difference of opinion leaves me in a quandary. Pray help 
me out of the dilemma by passing the Bill immediately in 
the Senate, so it may yet have at least a day or two of 
chance for passage in the House. 

Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



154 'fHE COLTON CLAIM 

After many months of very careful consideration of the 
subject in all its bearings, the honorable Committee of the 
Senate on Foreign Affairs, to whom, on the 7th of May, 
1874, the case had been regularly referred, and whose gifted 
and distinguished personnel was composed of Oliver P. Mor- 
ton, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Thomas C. McCreery, 
Timothy O. Howe, John P. Stockton, Hannibal Hamlin, 
Roscoe Conkling, Carl Schurz and Simon Cameron, unani- 
mously made the following Report ; and thereupon, in con- 
cert of procedure with the House Committee on Foreign 
Relations, consisting of the very worthy and accomplished 
Representatives Leonard Meyers, Freeman Clarke, Samuel 
S. Cox, E. Rock wood Hoar, Marcus L. Ward, William J. 
Albert, Charles G. Williams, Henry A. Banning, James C. 
Robinson, and Godlove S. Orth, your honorable body, legis- 
lating in the capacity of an illustrious assembly of American 
Senators and Representatives, and advancing courageously 
in the exercise of a just and wise statemanship, passed, 
without one dissenting voice, on the 3rd of Marcli^ 1875,. 
the accompanying Act, which follows immediately the fol- 
lowing Report: 



REPORT OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOR- 
EIGN AFFAIRS. 

In the Senate of the United States, January 19, 1875, 

Mr. Howe submitted the following report : 

T/ie Committee o?i Foreign Relatio7is, to who7ti was referred 
the petition of Joseph H, Cotton, asking the intervention 
of the Government of the United States, in aid of his 
claim ut)on the Govern?nent of Bolivia, together with the 
accompajtying papers, ask leave to siib?nit the following 
report : 
The memorialist represents that in 1858 he contracted 

with Col. Juan Ondarza and Commandant Juan Mariana 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I 55 

Mujia, duly authorized in that behalf by the Bolivian gov- 
ernment, to engrave and pubhsh on copper-plate a map of 
the Republic of Bolivia. The map was to be put on canvas, 
fitted up with moldings, rollers, and rings, and to be six feet 
in length by five feet in height. Of such a map he agreed 
to print and deliver to that government ten thousand copies. 
For the work, the Bolivian government agreed to pay $25,- 
000 in gold. Two thousand dollars of that sum were to be 
paid on the commencement of the work, and were paid. 
The balance, of $23,000, was to be paid on the delivery of 
the maps, or soon afterward. Of the balance no part has 
been paid. 

The contract is said to have been made with the memori- 
alist at his place of business in the city of New York, where 
the memorialist at that time resided, and has since contin- 
ued to reside. The memorialist represents that the work 
w^as executed at an extremely low price ; and he avers that 
the Bolivian government actually sold 2,000 copies of the 
same maps at twelve dollars per copy, and 3,000 other 
copies at five dollars per copy. 

The justice of Mr. Colton's claim appears to have been 
frequently recognized by the Bolivian government in the 
most solemn manner. Among the papers accompanying 
the memorial is an original decree, signed by President Mo- 
rales, of which the following is a translation : 

Ministry of Finance and Industry, 

La Paz, Bolivia, February i, 1872. 
In view of the contract made in New York on the 21st of September, 
1858, between Joseph H. Colton, of the one part, and Juan Ondarza 
and Juan Mariano Mujia, of the other part, for the engraving and pub- 
lishing of ten thousand maps of Bolivia, for the sum of $25,000 in gold ; 
in view, also, of the decree of March 8, 1858, authorizing the making 
of the said contract ; also the laws of August 12, 1861, and October 
27, 1864, which order payment of the sum due the claimant; also the 
financial law of the Republic for the year 1865, which recognizes the 



156 THE COLTON CLAIM 

debt, including interest, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, and dif- 
ference of excliange, in the sum-total, at that time, of thirty-eight thou- 
sand dollars, it is hereby acknowledged and declared that the claim 
now made by Joseph H. Colton, through his attorney, Hinton Rowan 
Helper, is just and entided to preference in payment. In virtue 
whereof the government of Bolivia, desiring to maintain the national 
credit, recognizes as now due the claimant, by way of principal, inter- 
est, and difference in exchange, the full sum of fifty-one thousand nine 
hundred and eighty-five dollars in Bolivian currency, or, as otherwise 
expressible, the sum of forty-one thousand five hundred and eighty- 
eight dollars and fifty-four cents In gold, to be paid religiously out of 
the first funds that are obtained by the loan authorized by the congress 
of 1871. 

Take notice of this, and pass it to the Director-General of Accounts 
for the registry of the sum of forty-one thousand five hundred and 
eighty-eight dollars and fifty-four cents in gold ($41,588.54 in gold,) 
to be paid to Joseph H. Colton. 

Sign-manual of his Excellency, 

President MORALES. 

By order of his Excellency : 
Garcia, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 



On the I St of June, 1872, the Bolivian Secretary for 
Foreign Affairs addressed to Mr. Markbreit, the United States 
Minister Resident at La Paz, a letter, of which the following 
is a copy : 

Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, 

La Paz, Bolivia, Jtme i, 1872. 

Sir: With your pleasing communication of yesterday I have re- 
ceived Mr. Colton's letter to you, from New York, in which he ex- 
presses his thanks to the national government for the decree of the 
first of last February, which ordered payment of the amount due him 
for ten thousand maps of this Republic, asking at the same time pay- 
ment by draft in his favor against Messrs. Lumb, VVanklin & Co., ne- 
gotiators of the Bolivian loan in London. 

So soon as we shall have received a full statement in regard to the 
said loan, the draft asked for will be given, as the national government 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



157 



is interested that payment of Mr. Cob.on's claim be made with prefer- 
ence, as soon as possible. With this motive, 
I have the honor to subscribe myself, 

Your most attentive and faithful servant, 

CASIMIRO CORRAL. 
Hon. Leopold Markbreit, 

United States Mijiister Resident 

Again, on the 17th of October, 1872, the same official 
addressed to Mr. Markbreit another letter, of which the fol- 
lowing is a copy: 



La Paz, Bolivia, Oetobej- 17, 1872. 
Distinguished and Esteemed Friend: At this very moment I 
have received your valued letter of to-day, in virhich you acknowledge 
receipt of communications from Mr. Joseph H. Colton. 

I am very sorry that the gentleman intends to present a memorial to 
the Congress of the United States. 

Be you persuaded and assured that the government of Bolivia knows 
how to regard its obligations touching this just and legal claim, after 
having acknowledged the debt, and pledged its honor to pay it with 
preference. Consequently, the time is not distant when the sum of the 
indebtedness can be raised, and for this reason I do not think it nec- 
essary that Mr. Colton should resort to the extreme measures which he 
seems to contemplate. 

Having thus answered your esteemed favor of to-day, 
I have the pleasure to subscribe myself, 

Your attentive friend and faithful servant, 

C. CORRAL. 
Mr. Leopold Markbreit, Etc, 



All these assurances leave no room to doubt that it is the 
solemn duty of the Bolivian government to make present 
payment of the sum promised to Mr. Colton, with all ar- 
rears of interest thereon. There is as little doubt of the 
ability of the Repubhc to make such payment. The Repub- 



158 THE COLTOX CLAIM 

lie of Bolivia embraces a territory equal to 473,300 square 
miles. It is more than one-fifth the extent of the United 
States, excluding Alaska. Its white population is stated at 
1,742.352 ; considerably more than the population of Massa- 
chuseiis. Its public debt is but ^3,200,000. Several of 
-the States of this Union owe more than twice as much as 
Bolivia. The annual revenues of Bolivia are stated at 
;^ 1, 500,000. Two and one-fourth years of its revenue are 
equal to the payment of its debt. No other American state 
could extinguish its debt with its revenues in so short a pe- 
riod. Switzerland, Sweden, and Prussia are the only Euro- 
pean states which could liquidate by the same means in the 
same time. 

But of the Bolivian debt, ^1,500,000, nearly one-half of 
the whole, is of a domestic character. The balance, ^£1,- 
700,000, consists of a loan, negotiated in the year 1872 
through the agency of the Bolivian Steamship Company, 
and in aid of a railway around the Falls of the Madeira. If 
that road shall be constructed, this portion of the Bolivian 
debt will make the Republic richer instead of poorer; for it 
will give Bolivian products access to the navigable waters of 
the Madeira river, and thus furnish them with an outlet 
through the Amazon upon the Atlantic markets. There is, 
therefore, no reason for doubting that, with good faith in the 
administration of its resources, Bolivia might promptly meet 
every pecuniary obligation resting upon it. 

Since the obligation of Bolivia to pay Mr. Colton's claim, 
and its ability to pay are manifest, the only questions re- 
maining for consideration are whether this Government is 
called upon to take any steps to influence payment, and if 
any such steps, what ? 

The committee entertain no doubt that whenever a for- 
eign government clearly owes an obUgation to a citizen of 
the United States, this Government should notice the obli- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I 59 

•gation, and should not hesitate to assert it. So much, it is 
apprehended, the Government may do in every such case. 
To what extent the Government shall go in enforcing such 
obligations is a different question, and a question which 
probably cannot be settled by the adoption of any rule suit- 
able for universal application. 

The different countries of North and South America are 
now indebted in the sum of ^751,241,197. European 
countries owe in the aggregate the sum of ^3,153,880,865. 
The question whether that immense mass of indebtedness 
must be paid, or may be repudiated at the pleasure of the 
several governments owing the debts, is one of great, if not 
of paramount, importance to all nations. This 'Government 
is one of those most heavily indebted, and may therefore 
mark its sense of sanctity of the obligation resting on itself 
by intervening to urge the payment of the inconsiderable 
sum due by Bohvia to one of our own citizens. The com- 
mittee do not permit themselves to doubt that BoHvia will 
promptly comply with the respectful request of this Govern- 
ment that the long-deferred claim of Mr. Colton be liqui- 
dated. Should this just expectation not be reahzed, it may 
be worth while for the Government then to consider whether 
we can afford longer to maintain a diplomatic representative 
at the capital of that Republic. The United States first sent 
a minister to BoHvia in 1848. That mission is maintained 
at an annual cost of $7,500. We have no direct trade with 
that Republic. Since 1862, when we commenced the annual 
pubHcation of our diplomatic correspondence, only six let- 
ters have been received from our representatives in Bolivia 
which have been thought worthy of publication. 

The Committee, therefore, report the accompanying Act, 
and recommend its passage. 



l60 THE COLTON CLAIM 

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION. 

AN ACT For the Relief of Joseph H. Colton. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled. 
That the President of the United States is hereby requested 
to call upon the Government of Bolivia to make payment of 
the money admitted by itself to be due, with interest thereon, 
according to the Decree of the said Government of Boliviii, 
of February first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, to Jo- 
seph H. Colton, for maps engraved for that Government un- 
der a contract made in eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. 
Approved March 3, 1875. 

Department of State, 
Washington, J/^7;r/^ 11, 1875. 
A true copy. 

SEVELLON A. BROWN, 

Chief Clerk. 



What effect was produced on the Government of Bolivia 
bv the rightful action of the American Congress in your pe- 
titioner's behalf, and what astounding tortuosities of behav- 
ior have been subsequently resorted to by both Bolivia and 
Peru in contravention of the course of justice marked out 
by your honorable body, will be clearly shown in the series 
of relevant papers comprised within an ample number of 
the following pages : 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. l6l 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER REYNOLDS. 

New York, March 8, 1875, 
Hon. Robert M. Reynolds, « 

United States Minister to Bolivia. 
Dear Sir: Herewith you will receive a copy of a Re- 
port, and also a copy of an accompanying Act, which was 
tinally passed on the 3d instant, by the Congress of the 
United States, in the matter of the claim of Mr. Joseph 
H. Colton, of this city, against the Government of Bolivia, 
I need hardly inform you that Mr. Colton and I are very 
much pleased with both the Report and the Act. We feel- 
now, — and, thank God, we never felt otherwise, — that it is 
worth something, that it is, in fact, worth all it implies, to be 
citizens of the Great Repubhc of the New World. Under 
the auspicious circumstances of the passage of this Act, I 
suppose I might, with no inconsiderable degree of propri- 
ety, on this subject, refrain from all further correspondence 
with persons, or places more distant than the White House, 
or the State Department, at W^ashington. Nevertheless, 
touching this affair, even as it now stands, I. shall be glad to 
hear from you, as the head of our Legation at La Paz, sc 
soon as you may find it convenient and agreeable to write. 
Please'let me know^ exactly what Bolivia says and proposes 
in view of this significant Act of the American Congress, 
and inform me what I may depend on beyond doubt or un- 
certainty. 

Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER, 



10 



I 62 THE COLTON CLAIM 

SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
. Washixgtox, March 13, 1875. 
Hintox R. Helper, Esq., N'ew York. 

Sir : Your letter of the 8th instant has been received. 
In compliance' with your request, I transmit herewith a copy 
of"' An Act for the relief of Joseph H. Colton," approved 
March 3, 1875. A printed copy of the Report of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations upon Mr. Colton's claim, is 
also inclosed. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
HAMILTON FISH. 

inclosures. 

Copy of "An Act for the relief of Joseph H. Colton." 
Copy of Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations. 



MR. HELPER TO SENATOR CAMERON. 

New York, March 17, 1875. 
Hon. Simon Cameron, 

Chairman of the Senate Committee 

on Foreii^n Affairs, Washington. 

Sir: Having received from the Hon. Hamilton Fish, 
Secretary of State, at Washington, a certified copy of the 
Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1875, requesting the 
President of the United States to call on the Government 
of Bolivia to pay the money so fully and so frequently ad- 
mittee by itself to be due to Joseph H. Colton, of this city, 
for ten thousand large maps engraved and published 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 1 63 

especially for it, in the year 1858, I have the pleasure of 
tendering to you, for your efforts toward the ends of equity 
in the premises, the sincere thanks of both the claimant and 
myself. As, however, Bolivia has, for so many years, been 
accustomed to trifle with the claimant, with all his agents 
and attorneys, with most of our Ministers Resident at her 
Capital, and with several of our Secretaries^bf State, I am 
apprehensive that she will not scruple to trifle also with our 
President, and even with Congress itself It is not in the 
nature of Bolivia, of her own vohtion, to do right in any 
matter whatever. In all her ways she is Jesuitical, and per- 
verse, and untrue. Her proclivities and aptitudes are only 
for evil. For these weighty and lamentable reasons, while 
again thanking you heartily for the support you gave to the 
measure of justice in behalf of the grossly and persistently 
outraged claimant, I have the honor to request that you, as 
.a clear-sighted and right-minded American statesman, will be 
kind enough to keep your eye on Bolivia until after this 
vexatious international affair with her shall have been finally 
settled. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO PRESIDENT GRANT. 

New York, March 24, 1875. 
To His Excellency Gen. Ulysses S. Grajit, 

President of the United States. 
Sir : In relation to the Act of Congress, approved on the 
3d instant, requesting the President of the United States to 
call on the Government of BoUvia to pay the money so long 



t64 the colton claim 

over-due from Itself to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of this city, 
both the claimant and I, as his attorney, have the honor to 
express the hope that your Excellency's request in the 
premises may be made so felicitously, and yet so promptly 
and 50 firmly, as to induce Bolivia's early compliance with 
both the letter and the spirit of the said Act of Congress. 
In this connection, your Excellency's attention is also most 
respectfully solicited to the inclosed copy of a letter, which, 
on the 17th instant, I addressed to the Hon. Simon Cam- 
eron, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign 
Affairs. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SENATOR FRELINGHUYSEN TO MR. HELPER. 

United States Senate Chamber, 
Washington, March 24, 1875. 
Mr. Hinton R. Helper, New York. 

Dear Sir: It \vill give me pleasure, at any time, to pro- 
mote Mr. Colton's claim; and if it should not be adjusted 
by the next session of Congress, you had better call my at- 
tention to the subject. 

With much respect, yours truly, 

FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 1 65 

COLONEL CHURCH TO MR. HELPER. 

London, England, April lo, 1875. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: It has afforded me great pleasure to receive 
and read the .Act of the Congress of the United States 
which came with your last letter, and which will, I hope, 
soon enable Mr. Colton to obtain from Bolivia the amount 
of his claim, which the Government of that country has, for 
so long a period, unjustly withheld from him. It will cer- 
tainly be a great gain to the Bolivians themselves, if they 
shall be taught by the results of your excellent labors in 
the Congress of the United States, that good faith on the 
part of governments is the prime essential for a career of 
national honor and progress. The. Bolivian Commissioners 
on this side of the Atlantic have recently given my Railroad 
and Navigation Company much trouble by their strange in- 
ability to comprehend the simple truth thus adverted to ; yet 
I am hopeful that their Government, spurred by an im- 
proved public opinion, is now beginning to understand more 
adequately the significance and force of a solemn contract, 
and that such a contract, when made by a government with 
a foreigner, partakes very much of the nature of a treaty 
with the government of the particular State of which the for- 
eigner is a citizen or subject. 

Sometimes I almost despair of the possibility of having 
my life sufficiently prolonged to teach men like the Com- 
missioners now here from Bolivia, that water naturally runs 
down hill. Certain it is that I have not yet succeeded in 
convincing these gentlemen of this plain fact, so patent to 
most other people ; for, with an obtuseness peculiar to them- 
selves and their countrymen, they still insist, or at least they 
seem to insist, that the Valley of the Amazon has its drain- 
age across the Andes into the Pacific Ocean. However, I 



lo6 THE COLTON CLMM 

hope the present year may see us at work again, driving 
away merrily and successfully in the construction of the 
Madeira and Mamore Railway. 

Yours, very truly, 

GEORGE EARL CHURCH. 



Every honest and well-informed American will heartily 
sympathize with Col. Church, ( formerly of Providence, 
Rhode Island,) in the unequal war which he, too, has had to 
wage, during many years past, against the oppressive faith- 
lessness and injustice of Bolivia. A true history of the long 
series of gross wrongs of which he has been the victim at 
the hands of the Government of that country, would prove 
but Httle less curious and incredible than the outlines herein 
given of the Colton-Bolivia case itself. 

H. R. H. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, May 4, 1875. 
Hon Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir : I have the honor to request that you will be so 
kind as to inform me whether any action has yet been taken 
in or through the Department of State, to give proper 
efficacy to the Act of Congress, of the 3rd of last March, 
which requested the President to call on the Bolivian Gov- 
ernment for the money due to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of 
this city, for the National Maps of Bolivia, pubHshed in the 
year 1858. A private note received on the 28th ultimo^ 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



167 



from Minister Reynolds, at La Paz, informs me that he has 
forwarded to you, as Secretary of State, a somewhat impor- 
tant memorandum of what he has thus far done in this mat- 
ter; a sort cf joint memorandum, signed, (if I err not in 
my inference,) by both himself and President Frias. Will 
you please send me a copy of any such memorandum which 
you may have received ? x\s usual, BoUvia's mere promises 
to pay the money are as convenient and plentiful as were 
ever green leaves in the Hercynian Forest. But Mr. Colton 
and I have, long since, become so impatient and nauseated 
with such promises that we would now be but too happy to 
have them ended, once and forever, by the final settlement 
in good faith of this long-stretched and time-wasting and 
life-consuming subject of diplomacy. 
I am, sir, most respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



ACTING SECRETARY CADWALADER TO MR. 
HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, May 10, 1875. 
HiNTON R. Helper, JSs^.j Neiu York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 4th instant has been received. 
In reply I have to state that a copy of the Act of Congress 
to which it refers, has been sent to Mr. Reynolds, the Min- 
ister of the United States to BoUvia, with an instruction 
upon the subject. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

JOHN L. CADWALADER. 



I 68 THE COLTON CLAIM 

THE REYN0LD3-FRIAS SETTLEMENT FOR COL- 
TON. 

Legation of the United States, 
La Paz, Bolivia, Afay lo, 1875. 
Messrs. Joseph H. Colton, \ ^_ y , 
and Hinton R. Helper, ^ ^^^^"^ ^''^^• 
Gentlemen : As the United States Minister Resident at 
La Paz, I have the honor to inform you that I have this day 
secured from the Government of BoUvia, five several drafts, 
as described below, in full payment of principal and interest 
of the amount due to Joseph H. Colton for maps furnished 
this Republic in 1858; the aggregate amount being in con- 
formity with the decree dated at La Paz, on the first day of 
February, 1872. Thus: 

First Draft, issued under the Subvention Treaty with 
Peru, for Customs due at Arica, December 3r, H875, 
drawn on the Minister of Finance at Lima, - - $20,000 00 
Second Draft, Ditto. June 30, 1876, - . - - 10.794. 27 
Third Draft, Ditto, December 31, 1S76, - - - 10,794 27 



Total of the Principal - - $41,588 54 



Fourth Draft, issued upon the Customs due at Cobija, 

In Bolivia, July 31. 1875, $ 5,372 38 

Fifth Draft, Ditto, August 31, 1S75, . - . - 5,372 39 



Total of the Interest, - - $10,744 77 

For these five drafts I have given a receipt, to be in full 
and final settlement, on the condition that you accept them 
Avith this understanding. Should you refuse or fail to con- 
firm my acts in this affair, as your agent, I am authorized by 
President Frias, under the terms stated in the receipt itself, 
to surrender all of the drafts aforesaid to the Government of 
Bolivia, when my receipt so given will be cancelled and re- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 1 69 

turned, without prejudice to your claim. While I am well 
aware that this settlement will be to both of you a sore dis- 
appointment as to the dates of payment of the later install- 
ments, yet I respectfully and earnestly recommend you to 
accept the whole arrangement as final, as I. am fully con- 
vinced that his Excellency, President Frias, has made a ten- 
der of all that was in his power to do in the matter of times 
of maturity of drafts issued; and I have already extended 
thanks to him in your behalf for his unremitting attention to 
the various stages of this settlement amid the whirl of 
attempted revolutions throughout Bolivia. It will be very 
gratifying to me, if you can find it convenient to send to 
him, through this Legation, a letter of personal thanks for 
his action in the premises. 

I have the fullest assurances that the drafts on the Customs 
at Cobija will be paid promptly on the days they fall due re- 
spectively, and also that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of 
Peru will accept the drafts drawn upon him, when presented, 
and that they will certainly be paid honorably and promptly. 
This will leave only the exchange to be paid by BoHvia, 
when the amount thereof shall be ascertained and duly cer- 
tified as having been actually and necessarily deducted in the 
process of transmission. In conclusion, allow me to assure 
you that this is the most favorable settlement that could be 
obtained at this time, and this arises, not from the fact that 
President Frias himself did not wish to make a more prompt 
payment, but because he finds the national finances so badlv 
deranged by continual embroilments and revolutions, that 
he could not provide the means for a speedier liquidation 
This particular claim has received his personal attention, to 
the exclusion of other pressing demands upon the treasury ; 
and he assures me that, for many months past, he has cher- 
ished an earnest desire to conclude the case. Hoping soon 
to hear of your full concurrence in the action which I have 



170 THE COLTOIT CLAIM 

taken in the premises, and trusting that the several drafts- 
may be promptly paid at maturity, 

I am, gentlemen, yours truly, 

ROBERT M. REYNOLDS. 



RECEIPT GIVEN BY MINIS FER REYNOLDS TO 
BOLIVIA. 

Legation of the United States, 
La Paz, Bolivia, May 10, 1875. 
I have this day received, from the Supreme Government 
of Bolivia, on the conditions hereinafter stated, five several 
drafts, or letters of credit, in full payment of the principal 
and interest due from the Government of Bolivia to Messrs. 
Joseph H. Colton and Hinton R. Helper, citizens of the 
United States of America, conformably to the decree of the 
Bolivian Government, dated February i, 1872, for $41,- 
588.54, as follows: 

First Draft, Issued under the Subvention Treaty with 
Peru, for Customs due at Arica, December 31, 1875, 
drawn on the Minister of Finance at Lima, - - $20,000.00 
Second Draft, Ditto, June 30, 1876, - - - ^ 10,794.27 
Third Draft, Ditto, December 31, 1876, - - - 10,794.27 



Total of the Principal, - - $41,589.54 



Fourth Draft, Issued upon the Customs due at Cobija, 

in BoUvia, July 31, 1875, $ 5o72.38 

Fifth Draft, Ditto, August 31, 1875, - - - - 5,372.39 



Total of the Interest, - - $10,744.77 



The exchange due on the foregoing amounts in coin, upon 
London or New York, is to be paid by the Government of 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



171 



Bolivia, so soon as the respective drafts shall be respectively 
negotiated and the respective sums shall be duly certified as 
having bfeen actually paid ; it being distinctly understood 
and agreed that Messrs. Colton and Helper shall receive in 
New York the par value of said drafts, in accordance with 
the decree aforesaid. The condition referred to is as fol- 
lows: — That, whereas, the Supreme Government of Bolivia 
has this day tendered the foregoing drafts in full payment of 
the principal and interest of the claim of Joseph H. Col- 
ton, pledging the perfect faith of the Government for 
the payment and. redemption of the said drafts when 
due, and, whereas, the undersigned, Robert M. Reynolds, 
as the agent and attorney in fact for Messrs. Colton and 
Helper, has accepted the said drafts in payment of the 
claim aforesaid, with interest thereon; now it is fully 
understood and agreed that, in the event that Messrs. 
Colton and Helper shall decHne to accept the drafts 
aforesaid, and so refuse to confirm the action of the under- 
signed as their agent, then, and in that case, the undersigned, 
Robert M. Reynolds, may surrender to the President of Bo- 
livia all of the drafts aforesaid, and receive as cancelled this 
receipt without prejudice to the claim of the said Colton and 
Helper against the Government of BoUvia. On the accept- 
ance of these several drafts by Messrs. Colton and Helper, 
this receipt is to be final and conclusive for full payment, as 
before stated.. ; leaving only the current exchange, when as- 
certained, to be paid by the BoHvian Government, on the 
redemption of the drafts aforesaid. 

ROBERT M. REYNOLDS. 
Approved. 

Frias. 



172 THE COLTON CLAIM 

SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, June 25, 1875. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esquire, Neiu York. 

Sir: I have to inform you that a dispatch, dated on the 
15th ultimo, has been received at this Department, from Mr. 
R. M. Reynolds, the Minister of the United States to Bolivia, 
representing that he had an offer for the setdement of the 
claim of Mr. Colton on the Government of that RepubHc. 
As he says that he had also apprised you of the terms, it is 
superfluous to mention them. Mr. Reynolds is of the opin- 
ion that they are as fovorable to the claimant as could rea- 
sonably be expected. This Department having taken the 
subject into full consideration, is of the same opinion, espe- 
cially in view of the present condition of that country. As 
the offer will not be binding on the Government of Bolivia 
uiitil accepted by the claimant, it is suggested that the ques- 
tion be decided by him without any delay which can be 
avoided ; and it is recommended that that decision be in the 
affirmative. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, June 30, 1875. 
Hinton R. Helper, Esq., Neia York. 

Sir : Your letter of the 28th instant has been received. 
This Department is gratified to learn from it that the terms 
of payment offered by the Bolivian government, in the Col- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



173 



ton case, are acceptable. Mr. Reynolds will at once be ap- 
prised of the decision. It will not, however, be convenient 
to authorize him to make remittances in the way you sug- 
gest. He will, however, be expected to see that the\ are 
made as received, pursuant to the terms offered and the ex- 
ercise of his best discretion, in view of the interests of the 
claimant. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



ACTING SECRETARY CADWALADER TO MR. 
HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, July 3, 1875. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir: Your letter of the ist instant, in which you request 
to be informed as to whether the information contained m 
yours of the 28th ultimo, relative to the acceptance of the 
terms proposed by the Bolivian Government, in the matter 
of the Colton claim, was communicated to Mr. Reynolds by 
the mail carried out in the steamer which sailed from New 
York on the 30th ultimo, has been received. In reply I 
have to state that your letter of the 28th ultimo, was not re- 
ceived in time to have a copy of it prepared for transmission 
to Mr. Reynolds by the mail of the steamer above referred 
to. A copy of it, however, has been made, which, together 
with an instruction on the subject, will be forwarded to Mr, 
Reynolds by the steamer which leaves New York for Aspin- 
wall on the 15th instant. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

JOHN L. CADWALADER. 



•174 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER REYNOLDS. 

New York, August 30, 1875. 
Hon. Robert M. Reynolds, 

United States Minister to Bolivia. 

De.\r Sir: Your letter of the 15th of July, received by 
me on the 28th instant, informs me that you cannot obtain 
duplicates of the drafts on Peru, corresponding with the 
originals which you now have in hand. This I am very 
sorry to hear, as, in case of the loss of the originals, in the 
course of transmission, much delay, and possibly no incon- 
siderable misunderstanding and difficulty, might occur 
before new drafts could be duly executed and sent forward. 
It seems to me that governments ought to be quite as con- 
siderate and accommodating as individuals, and that they 
should be disposed to furnish just as many safeguards in 
any and every honorable transaction. 

Lender all the circumstances of the case, it is the wish and 
request of both Mr. Colton and myself, that you will be kind 
enough to send to me immediately, properly endorsed to 
my order, the three Bolivian drafts on Peru, formally 
accepted by Peru ; retaining in your possession exact copies 
of the same, duly verified by the Secretary of State of 
BoHvia, by a Bolivian Notary Public, or by some other com- 
petent official of that Republic ; or, if the verification be not 
made by any Bolivian functionary, please make it yourself, 
as Minister, or let it be made by our own Consul, Mr. 
Guerra, or by the Peruvian Consul. Such verified copies of 
the drafts might be made out in duplicate, and one set sent 
to me, a fortnight or so after the original set shall have been 
addressed to me. The other set of copies might very prop- 
erly be filed among the archives of our Legation at La Paz. 
You may, if you please, forward the original drafts to me 
without delay, and through the ordinary channel, that is to 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. I75 

say, through our own Department of State at Washington. 
Your communications through this channel have been 
received very regularly, on an average of about forty days 
from La Paz to New York. One of your letters was nfty- 
six days on the way, another fifty-five, and many of them 
from forty to fifty. Only once, during the last twelve months, 
have I heard from you in so short a time as thirty days. 

Hereafter, if any question should arise in your mind as to 
what may possibly be the best thing to do, under any par- 
ticular circumstances, please bring to bear on the matter 
your own best judgment, and then act upon it accordingly, 
without referring it at all for my decision ; for Mr. Colton 
and I have already had so many proofs of the general 
soundness of your discretion, that we would much prefer to 
take the responsibility of relying on it implicitly, rather than 
to be put to the great inconvenience and annoyance of the 
delays which will inevitably attend, — as in this very case, — 
any reference of the subject here for our decision. 

Undoubtedly you were quite right in demanding, as a liqui- 
dation of the first installment, a draft for exactly $5,372.38 in 
silver or gold, payable to my order, so that I might receive 
here precisely that amount ; for if a draft comes to hand for 
less than that sum, rendering it necessary for me to make 
reclamation for the difference, and if then the amount of 
difference be sent, less a certain rate of discount thereon ; 
and then again, if I must make a new reclamation for the 
newer and smaller difference due, and so on, and so on, it is 
a question whether, by this peculiarly Bolivian method of 
imperfect payment, there would not be at least a fraction 
due to Mr. Colton and myself ten thousand years hence, or 
at doomsday, and even beyond ; in the immeasurable eter- 
nities of time and space. I hope BoHvia will not, by forever 
faihng to do her duty on the earth, in this matter, render it 
obhgatory on me to become an accusant and htigant 
against her from my place in the Heavens ! 



176 'the colton claim 

I am almost feverishly anxious to be able to go, first to- 
North Carolina, then to Minnesota, and afterward to Oregon,, 
on business which will require several months of my time ; 
but, though the hindrance is very greatly to my disadvan- 
tage, I cannot go until this unsettled affair with Bolivia 
shall be put in better shape. Pray help me to finish with 
Bolivia at the earliest possible day. How sincerely, indeed, 
do I wish I had all of Mr. Colton's interests, and my own^ 
this side of Bolivia at this very moment ! * * * 
Yours, most respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



ACTING SECRETARY CADWALADER TO MR. 
HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, October 25, 1875. 
HiNTON R. PIelper, Esq., Neiv York. 

Sir: Your letter of the i6th instant has been received. 
It asks whether it is your duty to pay to any Department of 
this government any part of a certain sum which has reached 
you on account of the claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton. In 
reply I have to state that this Department is not aware of 
any such duty, legal or moral. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

JOHN L. CADWALADER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, October 30, 1875. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir: I thank you for your letter of the 25th instant, in- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



177 



forming me, in effect, that neither the State Department nor 
any other branch of the Government of the United States, 
so far as you know, has any monetary charge against either 
Mr. Colton or myself for services rendered on account of 
the long-pending and, for the most part, still-unsettled Map 
Claim against the Government of Bolivia. This valuable 
and gratuitous service on your part, as Secretary of State, 
imposes on both Mr. Colton and myself the obligation to try 
to be still better citizens of the United States, and to return, 
at some time, in some way, if possible, a service to the 
country equivalent to that which, through your good offices, 
we have received from it; and though, because of the lack 
of wit or opportunity on our own part, the patriotic purpose 
here suggested may never be made manifest in action, yet 
we shall alwa3-s cherish a most lively sense of both our ben- 
efits and duties in this regard. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER, 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER REYNOLDS. 

New York, April 14, 1876, 
Hon. Robert M. Reynolds, 

United States Minister to Bolivia. 
Dear Sir : * * * I do most earnestly hope that you 
have already obtained, or may soon be able to obtain, the 
necessary orders from Bolivia, accepted by Peru, for the dif- 
ference of value between the gold or silver dollars due, and 
the depreciated paper money offered. This new delay is a 
very serious disadvantage to me, and the bother of it excites 
my indignation against both Bolivia and Peru. Mr. Colton 

II 



lyS THE COLTOX CLAIM 

Also is almost worn out with the grievous disappointments and 
despoliations of which he has so long and so frequently been 
the victim in the course of this reclamation. Please bring 
the case to an equitable conclusion, just so soon as may be 
possible. I am tied down here, and cannot get away, simply 
because this claim, through Bolivia's ever-changing and dis- 
honorable conduct, remains unsettled. Pray open to me, 
at your very earliest convenience, the way to both justice 
and liberty in this affair. 

If the Government of Bolivia should move from La Paz 
to Chuquisaca, or elsewhere, leaving any of your business 
in an unsettled condition, I fear very much that you will not 
be able to settle it at all without yourself moving there also, 
and giving personal attention to whatever matter may remain 
unfinished. In all cases of this kind, where an ignorant and 
base-blooded Catholic nation is the delinquent, correspond- 
ence at a distance from the seat of government, — even if 
the distance be no more than ten miles from the desks of 
the officials, — will result in nothing better than promises, 
and promises, and promises, which will be fulfilled only, if 
ever, at or after the general judgment, ten thousand millions 
of years hence, more or less. Please do not gratify either 
Bolivia or Peru with any such correspondence; for that is 
just what would make these Jesuitical nationalities successful 
\and happy in their wicked ways. 

. Yours, most respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER GIBBS. 

New York, May 29, 1876. 
Hon. Richard Gibes, 

United States Minister to Peru. 
Sir: I have a letter from Minister Reynolds, at La Paz, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 1 79 

in Bolivia, under date of the 13th of April, in which he in- 
forms me that he protested to President Frias against the 
action of' the Bank at Lima, in Peru, in paying me only 
^20,000 in paper, worth but little more than fifty cents on 
the dollar, whereas it should have paid $20,000 in silver or 
gold, and that the President replied as follows : 

"Peru has charged the $20,000 as if the amount had 
been paid in silver, and we must reclaim the difference imme- 
diately." 

If there be no misapprehension nor other mistake about 
this matter, and if indeed, Peru has, in this case, charged 
Bolivia the $20,000 as so much money paid on her account 
in silver, whereas, on Bolivia's order in my favor, Peru has 
paid me only in very badly depreciated bank bills, it may be' 
well enough for you, as the United States Minister at Lima, 
to know the fact, — and hence this note. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, Jime 2, 1876. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State Washi?igton. 

Sir : I have the honor to inform you, — if you will kindly 
accept the information, — that I received yesterday from 
Minister Reynolds, at La Paz, in Bolivia, a brief letter, dated 
at 4 o'clock, p. M., on the 4th ultimo, wherein, among other 
things, he says: 

" Since mailing my letter to you, at i o'clock to-day, a 
revolution broke out, proclaiming General Daza President 
■of Bolivia. On receipt of the news I repaired to the palace 



l8o THE COLTON CLAIM 

of President Frias, whom I wished to see. Finding the 
palace under guard, and that admission was denied to every 
one, I then went to the house of General Daza, (himself 
one of the candidates for the Presidency,) and there learned 
that he had proclaimed himself President, because a num- 
ber of his friends had been suddenly and forcibly ejected 
from office in Cochabamba, and that he, in self-defence, was 
compelled to act at once, without waiting for the election 
next Sunday." 

The very novel and interesting occurrences thus narrated, 
with so much sim[)licity, equanimity and frankness, did not 
take place in Si)ain nor in Egypt during the Middle Ages, 
nor yet in the Moon nor in Dahomey in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, but in Bolivia, a country in regular diplomatic stand- 
ing, which, for the last seventeen years, has been emblazon- 
ing herself before the world on maps ordered by herself, and 
published especially for her, but for which, as yet, she has 
paid only in part ; that is to say, less than one-half of the 
amount due, she having again shamelessly defaulted on the 
largest installment, now long over-due and unpaid in that re- 
gard. Hoping, however, that this new revolution may not 
be attended with any great loss of valuable lives or treasuie, 
and that more permanent conditions of peace, prosperity and 
progress may soon be established in Bolivia, 
I am, sir, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. COLTON TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, Jime 6, 1876. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir : It is with me a matter of profound regret, amount- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. l8l 

ing almost to shame and abasement, that circumstances again 
impel me to solicit your oft-asked and oft-granted assistance 
in the very troublesome case of Bolivia's indebtedness to 
me for the maps which I engraved and published for her in 
1858. This time, however, the delinquency of which I 
complain does not come up directly from Bolivia, but rather 
from Peru. BoUvia gave me, through my attorney, Mr. 
Helper, certain installment drafts on Peru. Peru unhesi- 
tatingly accepted the drafts ; but, instead of paying in hon- 
est money any one of the several sums which were plainly 
expressed and called for, she is now, to my further great loss 
and worriment, paying them in badly depreciated paper cur- 
rency, worth, according to the latest advices from Lima, 
where all the drafts are payable, but Ktde more than fifty per 
cent, of the amount due me ! 

Minister Reynolds, at La Paz,Jias informed me that Pres- 
ident Frias, of BoHvia, assured him that, although Peru paid 
me in depreciated bank bills, worth only fifty-four cents in 
the dollar, yet she charged the amount against Bolivia as so 
many dollars in silver of full value ! Now almost an octo- 
genarian, I feel very keenly the cruel continuance of these 
Bolivian and Peruvian outrages, already of so many years' 
duration, against my rights and interests as a man, and as 
an American citizen. This morning Mr. Helper and I 
called, in this city, on the Hon. Richard Gibbs, United States 
Minister to Peru, now here temporarily, on leave of absence, 
and requested him to use his good offices at Lima in mv be- 
half. This he seemed willing to do in a mere friendly way, 
but said he could do nothing officially, unless he should re- 
ceive specific instructions on the subject from our Depart- 
ment of State at Washington. The particular object of this 
letter is, therefore, to request that you will be kind enough to 
instruct Minister Gibbs to use such energetic and prudent 
efforts in Lima as will, if possible, secure to me the honest 



l82 THE COLTOX CLAIM 

payment in honest money, and without any new sort of 
quibble or subterfuge, of the three instaHments whicli Peru 
has agreed to pay to me for and on account of BoUvia. 
I am, sir, with great respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



SECRETARY FISH TO :\rR. COLTON. 

Department of State, 
Washington, June 8, 1876. 
J. H. Co ETON, Esq.y New York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 6th instant has been received. It 
complains of the manner in which Peru is paying the ac- 
cepted installment-drafts on her, given to you by Bolivia, in 
setdement of your claim against the latter government, and 
requests that Mr. Gibbs, the Minister of the United States 
at Lima, be instructed to obtain, if possible, their payment 
in money not subject to depreciation. In reply, I have to 
state that Mr. Gibbs has been authorized to use his good 
offices, unofficially, in the matter, and to do what he properly 
can toward securing the object desired. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



MR. HELPER TO MESSRS. PREVOST & CO. 

New York, September 4, 1876. 
Messrs. Prevost & Co., Lima, Fern. 

Gentlemen : I have the pleasure to acknowledge receipt 
of your letter of the nth ultimo, inclosing a draft for 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. iS^ 

^486-10-0 at ninety days, on Messrs. Henry Kendall & 
Sons, of J^ondon. You inform me that " this amount has 
been paid as the difference due on the $20,000 which we 
collected for you, in depreciated bank notes, in January 
last." In the closing paragraph of your letter of the 13th 
of last February, you said, speaking of the same difference, 
" The bank further agrees to pay us, for you, on account of 
Bolivia, the necessary amount wherewith to complete the 
sum of ^1960-10-6, still due you." While Mr. Colton 
and I are very much disappointed at the disproportion and 
meagreness of the remittance looked for, and I am unable 
to understand the discrepancy apparent in the foregoing 
statements, yet I feel confident that all the faults and de- 
faults in the premises lie entirely between Bolivia and Peru, 
and not in the least with either yourself or Minister Rey- 
nolds. 

If you can cooperate successfully wdth ]\Iinister Reynolds 
in obtaining for Mr. Colton and myself the full amount of 
difference due in the matter of this particular installment, 
and also payment in full of the subsequent installments, 
pray do so with all your might, — as evidently these tasks 
cannot be otherwise accomphshed, — and thereby increase 
the aggregate of your commission and the mountain of my 
obligation. Only use invariably your soundest judgment, 
doing the best you can in every case, and I shall be quite- 
satisfied with the results, so far as you yourselves are con- 
cerned. Ministers Reynolds and Gibbs have both given me 
such favorable accounts of your firm, and I find, besides^ 
that your drafts have such high credit among the leading 
merchants and bankers of New York, that I feel fully w^ar- 
ranted in thus reposing the utmost confidence in your pru' 
dence and probity. 

Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



184 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, October 21, 1876. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, ]]^as/iifigto?i. 

Sir : Bolivia and Peru are still practising against Mr. 
Colton and myself a series of Machiavelian infidelities and 
delays, which we tolerate only because we have no power to 
prevent them on the one hand, nor to punish them on the 
other. As yet, the sum of only a little more than two-thirds 
of the installment due nearly ten months ago, that is to say, 
on the 31st of December of last year, has been paid; and 
of the installment due on the 30th of June of this year, now 
nearly four months over-due, not even so much as one cent 
has been paid I If, in this precarious condition of things, 
you can suggest to our Ministers at Lima and at La Paz, the 
saying or the doing of anything that will facilitate the equi- 
table ending of this eighteen years' subject of diplomacy, 
pray do so, and receive the gratitude of two gray-haired, 
temper-tired, patience-exhausted, labor-oppressed and ex- 
pense-burdened victims. 

The estimable wife of our Minister to Bolivia, Mrs. Rey- 
nolds, whom I saw in Philadelphia, day before yesterday, 
requested me to write, as I am now writing, to our honored 
Secretary of State at Washington, inquiring whether her hus- 
band will probably be retained in Bolivia, in an official 
capacity, or whether he has been, or soon will be, recalled 
from that Andean nationality. Please favor me with the in- 
formation thus sought, and I will at once communicate it to 
Mrs. Reynolds. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



185 



ACTING SECRETARY CADWALADER TO MR. 
HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, October 23, 1876. 
HiNTON R. Helper, ^j-^._, Neiv York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 21st instant has been received 
It complains of the delinquency of Bolivia in failing to com- 
ply with its promise in respect to the Colton claim. This 
delinquency is regretted here, but, for the present at least, 
there seems to be no remedy therefor. Congress, at its last 
session, having omitted to provide a salary for a Minister in 
Bolivia from the ist of July, 1876, Mr. Reynolds, who then 
occupied that ofhce, was instructed to take leave of the 
Government and return home. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

JOHN L. CADWALADER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, October t^o, 1876. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir : Mr. Colton desires me to thank you for the inform- 
ation contained in your letter of the 23d instant, in relation 
to our Legation at La Paz in Bolivia. As, however, our 
Mission in Peru seems to be still untouched and in full force, 
and as one of Peru's accepted BoHvian drafts in his favor, 
for $10,794.27, due and payable in Lima on the 30th of last 
June, is now four months over-due and unpaid, he would 
Jike to know whether you will not be good enough to urge 



I 86 THE COLTON CLAIM 

upon this last-named power, upon Peru, a closer attention 
to its obvious duty in the premises ? 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, November i, 1876. 
H. R. Helper. Esq., New York. 

Sir : Your letter of the 30th instant, relative to an over- 
due acceptance of the Peruvian government, given in part 
payment of Mr. Colton's claim on Bolivia, has been received. 
Li reply I have to inform you that Mr. Gibbs, the Minister 
of the United States at Lima, has been authorized to use 
his unofficial good offices toward obtaining payment of the 
draft. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, Noveinher 25, 1876. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir : It is now more than eighteen years since two of the 

most able and eminent miHtary engineers of Bolivia, under 

commission from their Government, arrived in this city, and, 

entirely of their own seeking and volition, entered into a 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. . 1 8/ 

• contract here with Mr. Joseph H. Co:ton, a citizen of the 
United States, for ten thousand large and well-mounted na- 
tional maps, which were duly engraved and printed and 
delivered, in strict compliance with Mr. Colton's part of the 
agreement. For these maps, however, only a little more 
than one-half of the money due to him under the contract 
has yet been paid ; although full payment of the whole 
amouHt was to have been made, by the Bolivian Commis- 
sioners, on the completion of the work, and has since been 
promised and promised and promised an almost countless 
number of times by the Bolivian Government. On the 14th 
of last August I addressed to the Hon. Robert M. Reynolds, 
our Minister at La Paz, in Bolivia, a letter on this particular 
subject; to the following extract from which I have the 
honor to request your attention, trusting, too, that you may 
be pleased to cause the same to be filed among the archives 
of the State Department: 

" Pray have the kindness to inform Bolivia, at once, and 
very distinctly, that it is my intention, as the attorney for Mr. 
Colton, after having, for so many years, been so repeatedly 
victimized by her faithless promises and despoiling delin- 
quencies, to file against her a claim for expenses and dam- 
ages, on or about the first day of March, 1877, provided 
the whole amount of her long over-due indebtedness, as last 
agreed upon, for her national maps, shall not be cancelled 
by or before that date. This, as you will perceive, is giving 
Bolivia more than six months' notice (certainly, as it seems 
to me, a very reasonable and generous notice,) of my inten- 
tion ; and if all just and admitted obHgations in the premises 
shall be discharged by that time, then, notwithstanding the 
great loss to Mr. Colton and myself of so much time and 
labor and money, w^e will be satisfied, and no new claim 
whatever shall be made. Yet, should it become necessary 
for me to present the claim thus contemplated, I shall do it 



1 88 THE COLTON CLAIiM 

in such way, on the broad basis of the facts themselves, 
that all men of sense and justice will, I doubt not, readily 
see and concede the perfect rightfulness of my action, and 
the indefensible and glaring wrongfulness of Bolivia's posi- 
tion. May Bolivia be pleased to save me, and may it 
please Bolivia to save herself, from the new grievance and 
international trouble thus foreshadowed." 

It is really and deeply humiliating to both Mr. Colton and 
myself to have to ask again, after having already asked and 
received so often, your own good offices in this affair ; but it 
would seem that international justice and courtesy and 
usage allow us no other resource; and so, if you, as the 
American Secretary of State, can do or suggest anything 
that will avert the dreaded event of still another shameful 
delinquency by Bolivia, and so save Mr. Colton and myself 
from the necessity of having again to carry our case before 
the Congress of the United States, pray do so, and, as here- 
tofore, greatly oblige us both. 

I am, sir, most respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 

Approved : 

Joseph H. Colton. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

New York, November 30, 1876. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir: Since I last had the honor of addressing you, on 
Saturday last, Mr. Reynolds, our late Minister to Bolivia, has 
arrived in this city, and, with the remains of his Uttle boy. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



189 



Robert, who recently died in Panama, is now on his way 
West; he having left here, for Illinois, in the evening of day 
before yesterday. Mr. Reynolds has placed in my hands a 
new and formally executed promise of payment of the Col- 
ton claim against the Government of Bolivia. If each of 
Bolivia's countless promises in this matter had only brought 
to Mr. Colton and myself so much as one cent on the dol- 
lar, the claim would have been satisfactorily settled long 
ago. Under cover of this last " solemn pledge," I find a 
draft drawn by Bolivia on Peru, and accepted* by the latter, 
for the balance due, $19,609.40 in silver, payable at Lima, 
on the first day of March, 1878. Mr. Colton and I have 
agreed to abide by the doubtful arrangement thus made ; 
and we shall make no claim for damages, provided this last 
of numberless promises in the premises shall be fulfilled. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MESSRS. PREVOST & CO. 

New York, December i, 1876. 
Messrs. Prevost & Co., Lij?ia, Peru. 

Gentlemen: Our friend, Mr. Reynolds, late United 
States Minister to Bolivia, arrived in this city last Sunday. 
He informs me that, in consequence of Peru's delay in not 
paying at maturity the June draft, for $10,794.27, and the 
greatly increased rate of premium on silver at the time it 
was paid, about three months after the money had become 
due, my client, Mr. Colton, has sustained a loss, — which 
can now be made good only by Peru, — of between 
two and three hundred pounds sterling. According to 



ipo THE COLTON CLAIM 

his figures, I should have received about ^1,756 ; where- 
as the amount which really came to hand was only ^1,429- 
9-9 ; leaving a balance still due of about ;£'276, Mr. Reyn- 
olds informs me further that he has written to both you and 
the Hon. Secretary of the Treasury of Peru on this subject. 
Please give the matter your best attention, and insist, in the 
names of Mr. Colton. Mr. Reynolds and myself, and like- 
wise in the names of Justice and Honor, that the balance thus 
due by Peru be paid without further delay, and also that the 
December draft for $10,794.27, be paid promptly at matu- 
rity. If Peru pays the December draft in paper money, 
please send me, immediately afterward, a bill of exchange 
for pounds sterling, at the rate of the day of payment, or at 
once turn the paper money into silver, and hold the silver 
for a few days, or for a fortnight or so, for a more favorable 
rate, ])rovided the rate of the day of payment is, in your 
judgment, unflivorable. I should prefer not to have the fluctu- 
ating and precarious paper money of Peru held in possession 
a whole day, nor even a single hour, on my account. Again 
thank i' you for your earnest and discreet labors in behalf 
of Mr. Colton and myself, 

I remain, yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH. 

Nev/ York, February, 20, 1877. 
Hon. Hamilton Fish, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir : In November last I sent to Lima, for collection, a 
draft drawn by the Government of Bolivia on the Govern- 
ment of Peru, and formally accepted by Peru, for $10,794,27 
in silver, payable to the order of myself as the attorney for 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



191 



Mr. Colton, and due at Lima on the 31st of last December. 
Since the time when the draft became due, I have received 
three letters from my agents in Lima, Messrs. Prevost & Co., 
informing rne that they are unable to collect the money, and 
that, although they keep our Minister there, the Hon. Rich- 
ard Gibbs, duly advised of all their proceedings and experi- 
ences in my behalf, yet even his friendly interviews and 
pleadings with the Peruvian authorities, on thissubject, were 
also proving without any visible or encouraging result. Un- 
der these circumstances, moved again by the beseeching 
voices of both Colton and Justice, I am constrained to re- 
quest a renewal of your own good offices in this regard. 
Mr. Colton and I will therefore be under additional obliga- 
tions to you, if you will be kind enough to instruct Minister 
Gibbs to press Peru, with respectful earnestness, to perform 
.at once her very palpable duty in the premises. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, February 24, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, ^i-^z^/r^, New York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 20th instant has been received. 
In reply I have to state that, in compliance with your re- 
quest, Mr. Gibbs, the Minister of the United States at Lima, 
has been instructed to use his personal good offices with the 
Peruvian Government toward securing the payment of the 
draft to which you refer. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 



192 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO MESSRS. PREVOST & CO. 

New York, February 27, 1S77. 
Messrs. Prevost & Co., Lima, Peru. 

Gentlemen: Your letter of the 27th ultimo came to 
hand on the 19th instant. Mr. Colton and 1 are filled wit'.i 
disappointment and disgust at Peru's continued failure to- 
meet her own formally accepted obligation, due on the 31st 
of December last ; and these unavoidably bitter feelings on 
our part are very materially intensified by the prospect of 
our having to pay a still higher rate of commission, in order 
to obtain the money at all. You say you may yet have ta 
employ the services of a third party, and that, in such event, 
you will be under the necessity of charging me a commis- 
sion of five per cent. I earnesdy and solemnly protest, and 
through me Mr. Colton likewise protests, against these ever- 
recurring and damaging delays and unjust exactions. Such 
oft-repeated conduct on the part of any Government pre- 
tending to honorable consideration among civilized nations, 
is absolutely shameful, demoralizing and monstrous. Nev- 
ertheless, being on the ground, you are doubtless familiar 
with all the local circumstances of the case ; and it is but 
reasonable to suppose that you know much better than I 
what had best be done. So, continuing to repose the utmost 
confidence in your own integrity and judgment, I give you 
unlimited liberty to act in every respect as may seem to you 
most proper. Only do the best you can to obtain payment 
of the over-due installment, and let me hear from you 
accordingly. Kindly complying with my request. Secretary 
Fish has communicated with Minister Gibbs on this same 
subject; and I trust that his friendly and efficient action in 
the matter may facilitate you in collecting and transmitting- 
the money. 

Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. Kj^ 

MR. HELPER TO MESSRS. PREVOST & CO. 

New York, March 21, 1877.- 
Messrs. Prevost & Co., Lima, Peru. 

Gentlemen: Your letter of the 13th ultimo, inclosing 
to my order a draft, of the same date, for ^1,832-6-0, at 
ninety days, on Messrs. Henry Kendall & Sons, of London, 
has been received. Accept the thanks of both Mr. Colton 
and myself; although we regret very much that Peru's in- 
excusable delays and delinquencies made it necessary for you 
to pay an outsider an extra commission, in order to enable 
you to obtain the money even so soon, yet so long, after it 
had become due. Inclosed herewith you will find Bolivia's 
accepted draft on Peru, dated at La Paz, Bolivia, October 
12, 1876, and at Linia, Peru, October 23, 1876, in my favor, 
as the attorney for Mr. Colton, for $19,609.40 in silver, due 
on the first day of March, 1878, and by me made payable 
to your order. Please cause the draft to be paid on the 
very day' of its maturity, or as soon thereafter as you may 
find it convenient to do so, and transmit the money to me 
at once, with as little loss by way of exchange and commis-- 
sion as may be incurred. 

I trust you may soon succeed in obtaining from Peru the 
balance due me on the June, '76, installment. In this case, 
as in others, Peru should be required to pay not only the 
difference due in silver, as principal, but also the interest. 
A few evenings ago, I had the pleasure of meeting two of 
your recently arrived brothers, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in 
this city, and there proposed to place the accompanying 
draft, for $19,609.40, in their hands for collection ; but, in- 
tending to sojourn several months in the United States, thev 
seemed to think it might be better for me to mail the obli- 
gation direct to you at' Lima ; and I have thus acted ort 
their suggestion. Yours, very trulv, 

12 H. R. HELPER. 



194 THE COLTOy CLAIM 

ACTING SECRETARY SE\VARD TO EX-MINISTER 
REYNOLDS. 

Department of State, 
Washington, September 15, 1877. 
R. M. Reynolds, Esquire, Camden , Alabama. 

Sn<: Your letter of the 9th ultimo has been received. It 
is accompanied by one of the nth of May addressed to you 
by Mr. J, Oblitas, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bolivia, 
iilloging that there were errors against his government in 
adjusting the Colton claim, so-called, and asking for their 
correction. From your remarks on the subject, there is at 
least an impression that Mr. Oblitas is mistaken. But even 
if this should be otherwise, it is obvious that the course he 
has taken is not the proper or regular one to reach his ob- 
ject. As you observe, you are no longer an officer of this 
government, and cannot be considered as personally ac- 
countable in the matter. Payment was made in a draft or 
drafts to your order; the proceeds of which ultimately reach- 
ed* the claimant in the city of New York. If he has been 
overpaid, it is incumbent on that government to apply to him 
directly for restitution of the surplus claimed, and if this 
should be refused, there can be no doubt that the courts 
would give the case an impartial hearing. f This depart- 
ment does not, for the present at least, enter into any corres- 
pondence upon the subject with that government. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

F. W. SEWARD. 

'^Should have reached^ ^Nlr. Seward should have said. Even as yet, 
' — September, 1879 — only a part of the money due and long overdue 
has reached the claimant. H. R. H. 

f Exactly so. Let Bolivia at once enter suit against Mr. Colton and 
Mr. Helper, either or both. That is precisely what Mr. C. and Mr. 
H. desire; and while one of them cordially invites and courts the liti- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 195 

EX-MINISTER REYNOEDS TO MR. HEEPER. 

Washington, D. C, September 24, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of the 28th of July, I 
must say that I know not what system of figuring the Peru- 
vian officials employ in reducing to so small a sum as !p 1,1 00 
the amount still due to Mr. Colton in the matter of the only 
partly paid installment which matured on the 30th of June 
of last year. According to my best recollection of the facts, 
those officials should have summed the amount up to 
several hundred dollars more than that. I mvself made out 
a detailed statement of the true difference due, and left a 
copy of it with Messrs. Prevost & Co., of Lima, to whom it 
may be well for you to write; the original account having 
been presented for payment to the Hon. Secretary of the 
Peruvian Treasury. 

I am in receipt of news of the probable death of Henry 
Meiggs ; and if he dies, I fear you will encounter new and 
serious trouble with Peru; for, dreadful and exhaustive as 
have been her delays and delinquencies heretofore, there is 
really much danger that these deadening defects of the na- 
tion will be gready aggravated after Mr. Meiggs shall have 
passed away. Indeed it is a question whether you may not 
have to struggle with difficulty after difficulty, and suffer dis- 
comfiture after discomfiture, before you will be able to obtain 
even the comparatively insignificant balance due on the 
June, '76, installment. 

The Hon. J. ObHtas, Secretary of State for Bolivia, has 

gation, the other, wishing to provoke it, thus publicly dares and defies 
it. Any opportunity to apply the rules and mandates of justice to such 
an incorrigible wrong-doer as Bolivia, away from the foul and fatal 
dens and caves and crags and fastnesses of the Andes, would be improv- 
-ed with rare promptness and delight. H. R. H. 



1^6 THE COLTON CL.'.IM 

recently written me a long letter, alleging- that a very mate- 
rial mistake was made against his Government in my 
settlement with President Frias of the Colton claim against 
Bolivia, and demanding that, through my agency and influ- 
ence, Mr. Colton shall pay back to Bolivia the sum of $i6,- 
683.40 1 Since the Honorable Secretary of State for Bolivia 
has undoubtedly addressed to me this extraordinary commu- 
nication, it is, I dare say, quite safe to suppose that the 
Bolivians will try to persuade or prevent the Peruvians from 
paying the last installment, for $19,609.40, due at Lima on 
the first day of March of next year; and, although the draft 
for the amount has been formally accepted by Peru, yet she 
will probably be very glad to avail herself of this or any 
other excus-.' to retain the money in her own coffers, until it 
shall be still further explained and demonstrated that Bolivia 
does in fact owe the money to Mr. Colton. 

Apprehensive that the whole affair might again be rele- 
gated into the uncertain mazes of diplomacy, I sent the 
communication from Secretary Oblitas to our own State De- 
partment, accompanied by a note from myself, wherein I 
endeavored to point out the errors and absurdities of BoHvia's 
demands in this matter, and stated very plainly and emphati- 
cally that the last draft on Peru from BoUvia, for $19,609.40, 
was justly due to Mr. Colton, and also an additional sum for 
damages for repeated delays and lapses and shortcomings ; 
I having, by vour consent, waived and set aside a consider- 
able part of ]Mr. Colton's just claim, on the score of interest 
and otherwise, on condition that all the obligations proposed 
and given by Bolivia should be promptly honored at maturity. 

I have also written a letter to Mr. Jose de Guerra, our 
United States Consul at La Paz, requesting him to call on 
Secretary Oblitas, and, after assuring his Excellency that he 
is laboring under an egregious mistake of his own, suggest 
to him the justice and propriety of his wididrawing his letter 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 1 97 

of inequitable complaint and demand, as persistence in his 
course will only lead to another general reopening of the 
case, to'the inevitable injury and ignominy of Bolivia herself. 
Through Consul Guerra I reminded Secretary Oblitas specifi- 
cally of the fact that the written agreement signed by 
President Frias and myself atipulated that you and Mr. Col- 
ton should receive the whole amount with interest, in gold, 
in New York, and that the last draft, the draft in question, 
was itself really insufficient to cover the balance due, includ- 
ing the expenses of exchange and other necessary and un- 
avoidable charges at Lima. 

After all, I may as well frankly admit that you knew these 
people much better than I did, and that your invariable dis- 
trust of them was fell founded: for I never even dreamed 
that they would or could be guilty of any such dishonest 
and disgraceful action as they have finally taken against 
their too confiding and unfortunate creditor, Mr. Colton. 
Although you yourself have already earned and won the 
case at least twenty times, yet it seems that all your skill and 
strength and patience must now again be called into requisi- 
tion ; else both you and your cKent, if not also the Govern- 
ment of the United States and several of its officials in the 
foreign service, will be forced to endure a most unjust and 
humiliating defeat. Of course you will firmly insist that 
Peru shall honor her acceptance, and pay the draft. That, 
as I conceive, is the only policy you can now pursue with 
any reasonable prospect of success. 

Truly yours,' 

R. M. REYNOLDS. 



198 IHE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 10, 1877. 
Hon. William M. Evarts, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir: During the whole period of my forty-seven years' 
intercourse with mankind, I have never experienced any- 
thing on the dark side of human nature, at all comparable 
to the unblushing blackness and baseness of Bolivia in her 
transactions with Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, con- 
cerning the ten thousand maps which, at her own particular 
suggestion and solicitation, he engraved and published for 
her, so long ago as 1858, and which, greatly to the detriment 
and reproach of Republican institutions, now exhibit her as 
one of the independent and self-governing nations of the 
earth. Yesterday afternoon, I, as the last and present at- 
torney for Mr. Colton, had the honor to receive from our 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Brazil, 
the Hon. Henry W. Hilliard,to whose care the communica- 
tions had been addressed, two letters, with memorandums, 
bearing on this most bitter and baneful business with Bolivia ; 
one of the letters being directly from the Hon. Robert M. 
Reynolds, our late Minister to pjolivia, and the other, an in- 
closure, a copy of a dispatch which he had received from 
our Department of State at Washington, under date of the 
15th of September, of the present year. From these letters 
I learn (and, but for a previous and thorough knowledge of 
the measureless obliquity and immorality of most of the po- 
litical . and revolutionary characters of Bolivia, would be 
astounded to learn,) that Mr. ObHtas, the Bolivian Secre- 
tary of State, now pretends that Mr. Colton has been over- 
paid, and, in the name of Bolivia, demands the restitution 
of $16,683.40! 

The miprecedented effrontery, the miparalleled audacity, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 109 

of this pretension is simply monstrous. If to-day, Bolivia 
were to pay into the hands of Mr. Colton four times sixteen 
t'.iousand dollars, in addition to that part of his just account 
against her which she has at last reluctantly and grudgingly 
paid only on compulsion, (only after, as the result of much 
additional waiting and working, and the incurrence of many 
additional outlays and obligations, I had obtained from the 
Congress of the United States a bill requiring her to pay 
the whole amount due, a requirement, however, with which 
she is still very far from having complied,) even that caggie- 
gate sum, $64,000. would be much less, less by many thou- 
sands of dollars, than the amount necessary, in strict equity, 
to satisfy the rightful demands which he and his several 
agents and attorneys might now very properly present against 
her, for the burdensome expenses, losses, labors, journeys, 
voyages, postponements, duplicities, and wear and tear and 
worry and waste of life, to which he and they have herein 
been constantly subjected during the last nineteen years. 

The official and unofficial correspondence with Bolivia on 
this comparatively unimportant subject, the Colton Map 
Claim, has been of much gre'ater duration, and but httle less 
extensive and exhaustive, than the very elaborate corre- 
spondence which our Government at Washington, during 
the last decade or so of years, carried on with Great 
Britain in relation to the Alabama Claims ; yet the Alabama 
Claims, amounting to many miUions, have been justly and 
honorably paid in full, whilst the Colton Claim, amounting 
to only a few tens of thousands, has been paid only in part. 
Not taking into account either the ordinary or extraordinary 
expenses and losses incurred in the prolonged prosecution 
of this claim, not making any charge whatever for the her- 
culean labors of long and frequent letter-writing so uncon- 
scionably imposed as a task on the claimant and his attor- 
neys, and never but once reckoning interest on any of the 



200 THE COLTON CLAIM 

accumulated sums which Bohvia herself, on numerous occa- 
sions, in various years, found and acknowledged to be due 
in this case, there is, — notwithstanding all these and other 
relinquishments in her favor, by way of final compromise, — 
there is yet due from her a balance, a last installment, of 
$19,609.40, for which I hold a draft, dated at La Paz, Octo- 
ber 12,1876, drawn by the Government of Bolivia on the 
Government of Peru, and formally accepted by Peru, at 
Lima, October 23, 1876, due and payable to my order on 
the first day of March, 1878. This draft I, in propria per- 
sona, or by my agent at Lima, will present on the very day 
w'.ien it falls due, and also on three successive days there- 
after, if it be not satisfactorily honored meanwhile. 

Then, if the draft still remains unpaid, I shall, through 
our Legation at Lima, through our Consulate at Callao, or 
through the office of a local Notary Public, enter 
solemn protest against both Peru and Bolivia, and 
will soon afterward make another memorial to the Con- 
gress of the United States, wherein, as regards Bolivia her- 
self, separately, I shall, fortified by a knowledge of the 
simple rights and maintainable interests of Mr. Colton and 
his agents and attorneys, sue her, in the highest court of the 
world, for expenses and damages and losses actually sus- 
tained on account of her innumerable wiles and circumven- 
tions during the last nineteen years, in the sum of at least 
seventy thousand dollars, and also for a regular yearly allow-, 
ance, to himself and his agents and attorneys (by way of 
indemnification for wilful obstructions and hindrances of the 
course of justice, and for compensation of the enormous 
and harassing labors, so often required, of explanations and 
reexplanations, and of answers to newly invented and wick- 
•edly devised issues,) at the rate of six thousand dollars per 
annum, commencing on the- first day of March, 1878, and 
continuing until the date, in future, of the final settlement of 
.the claim. Only on this basis, or on a basis substantially 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 201 

similar to it, can either Mr. Colton or myself, or other mortal 
man, afford to be longer and continually trifled with and 
troubled l^y this most untrue, untrusty and tricky body-poli- 
tic, Bolivia, miscalled a Republic. 

Of this determination and notification on my part, I have 
the honor to request, worthy and distinguished Secretary, 
that you will be kind enough to take due cognizance. At 
the same time, I most respectfully and earnestly entreat, that 
with as little delay as may suit your convenience, you will 
be so good as to instruct our Ministers to Peru and Chili — 
we having now no Minister in Bolivia, — to lend me their 
friendly and official aid, 'at the proper time, in securing from 
Peru prompt payment of the last installment, now so treach- 
erously and flagitiously disputed by Bolivia, as explained 
above, for $19,609.40, due at Lima on the first day of 
March, 1878. That installment, fully and promptly paid, 
will relieve me, as I very much desire to be relieved, from 
the necessity of ever again carrying the case into the Con- 
gress of the United States ; and I sincerely trust that you 
may be pleased to receive from me this letter as a special 
petition for the relief thus anxiously craved and sought. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER.' 
New York, December 24, 1877. ) 
Appnwed : Joseph H. Colton. \ 



SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 28, 1877. 
HiNTON Rowan Helper, Esq., 

No. jg Rua da Princeza Imperial, 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
5ir: Your letter of the loth ultimo, relative to the 



202 THE COLTON CLAIM 

balance claimed by you on account of the Colton claim, so 
called, on Bolivia, has been received. In reply, I have to 
inform you that this Government has now no diplomatic 
representative in Bolivia. Mr. Gibbs, Minister to Peru 
however, will be instructed to use his personal good offices, 
but not his official interposition, toward securing the pay- 
ment by that Government of the draft of the Government 
of Bolivia, on account of the claim, which you say has been 
accepted by the former. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WM. M. EVARTS. 



MR. COLTON TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, December 29, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., Lima, Peru. 

Dear Sir: Your letter of the loth of November, inclos- 
ing a communication for the Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, Secretary 
of State, at Washington, was received here on the 24th 
instant. The communication for Mr. Evarts was dispatched 
to him the same day, with a request for an acknowledgment 
of its receipt, which latter came to hand this morning, and 
is herewith inclosed. Mr. Frederick W. Seward, Assistant 
Secretary of State, has also honored me with a note in. 
reply to my request. 

In relation to this new and startling rascality on the part: 
of Bolivia, I know not how to speak. Words can give 
but jjoor expression to my emotions of disappointment, 
surprise and disgust ; and so I might almost as well remain, 
dumb. Never for one moment had I supposed it possible- 
that even the Bolivians could condescend to become the 
authors of such a dishonorable contrivance; although I 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 203 

remember that you always entertained a very different opin- 
ion of them, declaring them to be a most mongrel and im- 
pure race, incapable of constancy to any agreement, written 
or verbal, and venturing the prediction that they would yet 
concoct and put in practice some new species of deviltry 
before final payment of my claim against their government 
could be obtained; and, sure enough, to my unspeakable 
bewilderment, as also to the unparalleled opprobrium of their 
own nationahty, they have done just what you said they 
would do. ^ut I shall not ])ermit myself to believe that such 
wickedness can prosper. Will Peru play into the hands of 
Bolivia in these devices of low cunning, and thereby aid 
the efforts of the latter to thwart and defeat justice ? I 
think not,— at least I hope not ; and of one thing I feel quite 
certain ; if they overreach you, they will have to get up 
very early in the morning. Knowing that you will do every- 
thing that an honorable man can do to secure our rights, I 
shall be anxious to hear from you at every important turn 
in the case : and, for your sake as well as my ow^n, I 
fervently trust that both of us may, with justice, soon be 
relieved from the necessity of a further prosecution of this 
excessively trying and terrible business. 
Very truly, your friend, 

J. H. COLTON. 



MINISTER OSBORN TO MR. HELPER. 

Legation of the United States, 
Santiago, Chili, Jajiuaj-y 19, 1878. 
Mr. Hinton R. Helper, 

Sir : After a somewhat careful review of the history of 
the Colton claim against the Government of Bolivia, as ex- 



204 THE COLTON CLAIM 

plained in your letter and the accompanying documents of 
yesterday, I am led to the belief that your apprehensions as 
to the course which Bolivia may take in regard to the pay- 
ment of the balance due, are substantially groundless. To 
conclude otherwise would be to arraign that government as 
wanting not only in honor, but also in a reasonable knowl- 
edge of its own interests. In view of the formal intervention 
of the Congress of the United States in behalf of the 
claimant, and of the subsequent execution by the Bolivian 
Government of bills of exchange in satisfaction of the 
claim, I cannot see how an attempt now, by Bolivia, to pre- 
vent the payment of such bills, could be regarded by the 
intervening power in any other light than that of a want of 
good fliith. When the American Congress requested Bo- 
livia to pay the amount due, it evidently expected that that 
request would be complied with ; and if Bolivia has taken 
any steps looking to a repudiation of her promises made in 
pursuance of that request, she will, I am confident, on re- 
flection, see the propriety at once of retracing her measures 
to that end. Her statesmen are not lacking in sagacity, 
and they must certainly see that she cannot afford, for the 
small amount involved, to take the position which she threat- 
ens to assume, if your suspicions are correct. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOMAS A. OSBORN. 



PROTEST AGAINST BOTH PERU AND BOLIVIA. 

Lima, Peru, March 19, 1878. 
Whereas I, Plinton Rowan Helper, a citizen of the 
United States of America, now temporarily in Lima, Peru, 
am the attorney in fact for Joseph H. Colton, an octogenarian, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 205 

of New York, who, in September, 1858, nearly twenty years 
ago, engraved and published for the Republic of Bolivia, 
ten thousand large maps, on which, in the way of principal 
and interest and ordinary and extraordinary expenses, there 
remains, since the hrst day of this month, with interest 
thence accumulating, a balance justly due to Mr. Colton of 
seventy-eight thousand nine hundred and three dollars and 
eighteen cents in gold, as I am prepared to demonstrate by 
an equitable and detailed account; and whereas, under a 
compromise-settlement (the last of many previous com- 
promise-settlements, to everyone of which, however, Bolivia 
has always proved matchlessly disingenuous and unfaithful,) 
finally effected, under a special Act of the Congress of the 
United States of Vmerica, between the Government of Bo- 
livia and the Hon. Robert M. Reynolds, the last Minister 
from the United States to Bolivia, at La Paz, October 12, 
1876, when the Government of that Republic issued a draft 
in the claimant's favor on the Government of Peru, for nine- 
teen thousand six hundred and nine dollars and forty cents 
in silver, due at Lima on the first day of March, 1878, which 
said draft was formally and legally accepted by the Govern- 
ment of Peru, at Lima, on the 23d day of October, 1876; 
and whereas I, in company with my friend and agent here, 
Mr. Henry S. Prevost, have, together or separately, called 
at the Treasury Department of Peru almost every day, since 
and including the first instant, requesting and demanding 
payment of the said accepted draft, but have been uniformly, 
yet not most positively or definitely, refused payment, on 
the ground that Bolivia alleges that a mistake against her 
has been made in the account, of the magnitude of the 
whole amount of the said draft, except only the sum of two 
thousand dollars thereof, while, in truth, the whole amount 
equitably due to Mr. Colton is, as stated above, $78,903.18 ; 
so that, even if the said accepted draft had been, as it 



206 THE COLTON CLAJM 

should have been, promptly and fully paid on the first in- 
stant, Mr. Colton would still, — even in that case, — have 
suffered a loss by Bolivia of more than sixty thousand dol- 
lars in gold; and whereas, on the twelfth day of this month, 
I addressed to the Hon. Jose Felix Garcia, the Peruvian 
Secretary of the Treasury, the original of the following copy 
of a 

Memorandum (No. i.) 

Lima, Peru, March 12, 1878. 

As attorney for the long-injured and long-suffering claim- 
ant, I have the honor to urge upon his Excellency Minister 
Garcia, that there are at least four weighty and all-sufficient 
reasons why the Colton draft from Bolivia, accepted by Peru, 
should be paid immediately: 

First. The formal and legal acceptance by Peru of the 
said draft, on the 23d day of October, 1876, due on the 1st 
day of March, 1878, is in itself an ample reason why the 
draft, — already eleven days overdue, — should be paid at 
once. Otherwise Peru will commit the grave offence of 
being the first to violate and break her own national law, 
which requires absolutely the payment of all accepted drafts, 
where, as in this case, there is no false signature. 

Second. The moment the draft was duly accepted, from 
that very moment it came to be in the condition, so far as 
Bolivia is concerned, of having been paid ; for Peru, the ac- 
cepter of the draft, assumed complete responsibility for its 
payment ; and that assumption having been satisfactory to 
the holder, he was thenceforward, by law and custom and 
reliance, estopped and prevented from taking any further 
proceedings against Bolivia; as otherwise he would most 
assuredly have done. More especially and positively is the 
acceptance binding against Peru, inasmuch as she never 
issued to the holder of the draft, after having accepted it, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 207 

any notice whcitever, — not even the slightest intimation, — 
of any intention or purpose on her part not to comply with 
her written obligation ; her officially executed promise, 
which if not now fulfilled, will prove to have been, to both 
Mr. Colton and his attorney, a most grievously and parti- 
sanly deceptive and misleading document. 

Third. This draft is the final result of a setdement no 
merely between Mr. Colton and Bolivia, but it is, moreover, 
in a much higher sense, the result of a setdement, under a 
special Act of Congress, between the Government of the 
United States of America, through its Minister, Mr. Rey- 
nolds, and the Government of Bolivia ; and Peru certainly 
has no right whatever to assume umpireship, nor to consti- 
tute herself a judge, between Mr. Colton and BoHvia on 
the one hand, nor between the United States of America 
and Bolivia on the other. 

Fourth. The present action of BoUvia, in the absence from 
her capital of a diplomatic representative of the United 
States, whose Legation in Bolivia has been aboHshed, is 
simply an attempt at insidious evasion of payment of an 
honest debt ; a debt which has already been greatly com- 
promised and dwindled away in the interest of Bolivia as 
against her unfortunate creditor, Mr. Colton, and which debt, 
besides, since 1858, the year of its creation, has cost him 
and his several agents and attorneys, by way of actual ex- 
penses and abatements, more than fifty thousand dollars in 
gold, in their constant and laborious yet fruidess efforts to 
collect it ; not one cent of which extraordinary amount of 
expenses has ever been taken into account, but the whole of 
which stands to-day as a total loss, over and above the com- 
promise-balance now due, as per accepted draft on Peru 
for $19,609.40 in silver; and it is not believed that Peru 
will now, by dishonoring her regularly and solemnly accepted 
obHgation, lend lierself as an aider and abettor in this new 



2oS THE COLTON CLAIM 

and most faithless and wrongful proceeding on the part of 
Bolivia. In brief, there is but one high and just and honor- 
able course for Peru to pursue in the premises, and that is 
to pay the draft without further delay. Therefore I thus 
again have the honor to request payment accordingly, and 
trust that his Excellency, Minister Garcia, will perceive that,, 
by making such payment, he will only be acting in conform- 
ity with both the law and the equity of the case. 
j\Iost respecifully submitted, 

H. R. HELPER. 

And whereas, on the 15th day of the present month, I 
addressed to my friend, Mr. Prevost, to be read in transla- 
tion by him to Secretary Garcia (who had expressed some 
displeasure and dissatisfaction at the receipt of the. first 
memorandum,) the original of the following copy of another 

Memorandum (No. 2.) 

Lima, Peru, March 15, 1878. 
My friend, Mr. Prevost, who will kindly retain for himself, 
or return to me, this memorandum, will please assure his 
Excellency Minister Garcia, that I entertain for him, person- 
ally, and for the Peruvians generally, great respect and good 
will : That I earnestly desire to avoid giving offence, but 
that, having already considerately waited two weeks for pay- 
ment of Peru's accepted draft, due on the first instant, if the 
money be not paid on or before Tuesday of next week, or 
if, not later than that day, some satisfactory assurance be 
not given for the honoring of the draft in the course of a 
few days thereafter, it will then be ray duty to make a formal 
protest against the Peruvian Government, and to adopt the 
most vigorous and certain measures within my power to se- 
cure the earhest possible payment of the amount of the 
draft, and aLo, in that case, payment of all the consequent 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



209 



tial damages and expenses : That there are many facts of 
law and facts of circumstance which will both justify and 
require the making of the protest, — if it must be made, — 
very energetic, pungent and comprehensive ; and that I am 
profoundly apprehensive that a triple trouble, of unexpected 
magnitude, may result from such a protest ; trouble and 
more delay and expense to Mr. Colton, trouble to Bolivia, 
(inevitable trouble to her, happen what may,) and last, but 
not least, trouble to Peru. In the name of amity and jus- 
tice, therefore, I thus again request and trust that his Ex- 
cellency ]\Iinister Garcia may now be pleased to make 
prompt and pleasant payment of Peru's accepted and over- 
due draft, and thereby end at once all solicitude and all dan- 
ger, concerning discomposing, costly and prejudicial pro- 
ceedings. 

Very respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 

iVND WHEREAS, notwithstanding all these considerate en-' 
deavors on my part to induce fair and friendly payment by 
Peru of her own unconditionally accepted draft, now nearly 
three weeks overdue, Mr. Colton's rights and interests in 
the matter are still most ungraciously and unrighteously de- 
nied a,nd withheld, — Now, therefore, I, the said attorney for 
the said claimant, in the name and upon the principles of 
all that is reasonable and equitable and honorable among 
mankind, do hereby solemnly and earnestly protest, first 
against the Government of Peru for thus dishonoring its 
own accepted draft, and thereby, in effect at least, allying 
itself as an accomplice with Bolivia in the perpetration of 
another gross and cruel wrong against the claimant ; and 
further I do hereby protest and declare that, if the money 
thus so obviously and eminently due by accepted draft, be 
not paid into my hands within seven days from to-day. t'-'at 



2 TO THE COLTOX CLAIM 

is to say, by or before the 26th d.iy of the present month, it 
is my intention to take, immediately thereafter, such farther 
lawful and vigorous proceedings in the premises, \v'.iet!ier by 
aj)plication to the Supreme Court of Peru for a mandamus 
compelling payment; by a new and urgent appeal to the 
Congress of the United States, or to the Department of 
State of the United States ; by lawful seizure at or near New 
York of Peruvian Government guano ; or by such other 
course or action at law or in diplomacy as I may prefer, at 
my own discretion, and as may seem to me to be most pru- 
dent and proper and promisingly expeditious in securing 
involuntarily from Peru the measure of justice thus volition- 
ally unattainable. In the event of non-payment within the 
next seven days, as aforesaid, I further declare it to be my 
intention to hold Peru responsible, in addition to the amount 
of her accepted draft, for damages in the sum of ten thou- 
sand dollars in gold, and also for all legal and other expenses 
which may, at any time, or under any circumstances, accrue 
in consequence of her default of payment in this case. 
Likewise will I hold her responsible, — and this I must do in 
any event, — for the sum of eleven hundred and odd dollars 
in silver, with interest thereon, due as the difference in ex- 
change and in the value of the depreciated Peruvian money, 
between the 30th day of June, 1876, and the date, in Octo- 
ber following, of the payment of the Bolivian-Peruvian 
installment for $10,794.27 in silver, which was due and should 
have been paid, on the said 30th day of June, 1876, but was 
not paid until more than three months afterward. So far in 
particular protestation against Peru. 

Moreover, and finally, I now also, in this connection, em- 
phatically protest against Bolivia, because of this last mani- 
festation of a twenty-years' series of glaringly dissembHng 
and discreditable acts on her part, which said acts have 
proved ruinously injurious to my aged cUent, and which, be- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 211 

sides, while they are, as the public acts of a nation, indirect 
CDntravjntion of the simplest rules of fairness and justice, 
are, at the same time, indirect incentives to universal 
chicanery and corruption ; and I further protest and declare 
that, because of this new and distressful device and duplicity, 
this new treason against law and justice, this barefaced in- 
fidelity to the written and rightful conditions of a plain 
adjustment, this additional and unprovoked injury and out- 
rage against my octogenary client, on the part of Bolivia, it 
is my determination, at the proper time, and in my own way, 
at my own option, to hold that so-called Republic responsi- 
ble for the whole amount of the $78,903.18 in gold, with 
interest, as mentioned above, which shall be found to be due 
thereon after deducting therefrom, when paid, the $19,609.40 
in silver overdue, as above protested, on Peru's accepted 
draft; claiming and insisting that, through this last ma- 
noeuvre of folly and fraud, as aforesaid, BoHvia, always 
foully fruitful of delays and evasions and affected excuses, 
has now completely forfeited her right to all the advantages 
which were generously yielded to her on various occasions of 
former compromise. 

DwelHng and acting on the bases of the several methods 
of procedure thus indicated, I shall continue to struggle 
till the very end of my days, if the issue be not sooner set- 
tled, to bring at last to a right conclusion, to recover 
eventually, in all its justness and fulness, the Colton Map 
Claim against the Government of Bohvia. Therefore, 
against all whom it may concern ; against Peru on the one 
hand, and against Bolivia on the other ; against them both 
and against each ; against them together and against them 
separately ; I do thus earnestly speak ; I do thus really in- 
tend ; I do thus solemnly protest. 

HINTON ROWAN HELPER. 



212 THE COLTON CLAIM 

CONSUL CLAYTON'S CERTIFICATE. 

United States Consulate, 
Callao, Peru, April i, 1878. 
Personally appeared before me, this day, at this Consulate, Hinton> 
Rowan Helper, a worthy citizen of the United States of America, to- 
me personally known, and known by me to be the person who exe- 
cuted the foregoing Protest, declaring that he had good and sufficient 
reasons for so doing, and that he did so specifically for the uses and 
purposes therein mentioned. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the 
seal of my office, at Callao, this the third day of April, 1878. 

ROBERT T. CLAYTON, 

United States Consul. 

MR. COLTON'S APPROBATION. 

New York, May 18, 1878: The foregoing protest against Pent 
and Bolivia meets my entire approbation. 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



DETAILED ACCOUNT AGAINST BOLIVIA. 

Lima, Peru, March 30, 1878. 
The Government of Bolivia, 

To JOSEPH H. COLTON, of New York, Dr, 

For ten thousand large Maps of the Republic of Bolivia, 

as per contract under date of September 21, 1858, $25,000.00 

For boxing, shipping, marine insurance, freight, and mi- 
nor charges on the same, from New York to Arica in 
Peru, as per instructions, ------ 1,300.00 

$26,300.00 
Less cash in advance, as per agreement, - - - 2,000.0a 

$24,300.00 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



213 



Amount forwarded, ------ $24,300.00 

For interest from September 21, 1859, to May 7, i860, 7 
months and 16 days, when the Bolivian Congress or- 
dered payment of the amount due, but paid nothing 
at all; calculating interest at the rate of seven per cent, 
per annum; that being the legal rate of interest in 
New York, where the debt was created, and where, at 
this rate, and sometimes at higher special rates, money 
had to be borrowed in lieu of the money uncoUectably 
due from Bolivia. (Other parties having claims against 
Bolivia have in most cases charged as high as twelve 
per cent, interest per annum, and Bolivia has admit- 
ted the charge; that being the regular commercial rate 
of interest in that country, ----- 1,067.75 

$25,367.75 
For interest to August 12, 186 1, I year, 3 months and 5 
days, when the Bolivian Congress again ordered payment 
of the amount due, but paid nothing whatever, - - 2,244.31 

$27,612.06 
For interest to July 22, 1863, i year, ii months and 10 
days, v.'hen, for the third time, the Bolivian Congress 
again ordered payment of the amount due, but paid 
not one cent, - - - - . - - . 3758.31 

$3io70-37 
For interest to October 27, 1864, i year, 3 months and 5 
days, when, for the fourth time, the Bolivian Congress, 
without even paying so much as a farthing, again or- 
dered payment of the amount due, - - - - 2,575.39 

$33>945-76 
For interest to February I, 1 872,. 7 years, 3 months and 4 
days, when, for the fifth time, Bolivia ordered, but or- 
dered in vain, payment of the amount due, - - 17.253.87 

$51,199.63 
For interest to October 13, 1875, 3 years, 8 months and 
12 days, when, only under the influence of the positive 
and impressive action in the claimant's behalf by the 
Congress of the United States, a few months pre- 
viously, the first.money, a first installment, was received 
from Bolivia ; the maps having been published and 



214 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



Amount forwarded, _____ 

delivered nearly < ighteen years previously. (Addi- 
tional interest must, of course, in justice to the claim- 
ant, be calculated on at least a part of this sum, be- 
tween this date, October 13, 1875, and March i, 1878, 
as will be explained in the concluding paragraph of 
this formal account,) - - - -. - - - 

For expenses and fees paid various agents and attorneys, 
for services, journeys, voyages, etc., etc., from Septem- 
ber 21, 1859, to January i, 1874, $26,840; and also for 
corresponding expenses, fees and compensations to the 
same and other agents and attorneys, from January i, 
1874, to March i, 1878, $11,633.64; making as princi- 
pal alone, a sum total of actual expenses incurred in 
this most harassing and ruinous business with Bo- 
livia, during a period of nearly twenty years, of $38,- 
473.64; on which, as a matter of course, it is but right 
to reckon interest; because it was necessary to pay in- 
terest on the money so expended through Bolivia's 
persistent delinquency. Thus : Principal of expenses, 
from September 21, 1859, to March i, 1878, $38,473.- 
64; aggregate of interest on the same, $13,322.28; 
total $51,795.92, 

Credit by cash from Bolivia, as follows : 



$51,199.63: 



13,260.60 
$64,460.23. 



5i>795-92 
$116,256.15 



December 23, 1875, 
January 15, 1876, - 
March 9, 1876, - - 
July 24, 1876, - - 
August 31, 1876, - 
November 14, 1876, 
March 12, 1877, - 



$ 4,505-76 

5,274.88 

110.78 

10,678.12 

253-35 
2,353-62 
7,091.15 
8,807.85 

$39>o75-5 1— Subtract— 39>o75-5i 
$77,180.64 



For the sake of brevity of statement, here entirely sus- 
pending, if not abating, the accumulation of interest 
due on the sum of the original indebtedness, amount- 
ing, as will have been seen, to $64,460.23, while pay- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 215 

Amount forwarded, . . _ _ . $77,180.64 

ments by installments were being made by Bolivia, be- 
tween October 13, 1875, and March 12, 1877, inclusive, 
such payments aggregating a sum total, as shown 
above, of $39,075,51, — although this is another volun- 
tary and extensive suppression of the rights of the cred- 
itor in the interest of the debtor, — it now only remains, 
in order to ascertain the full amount of the balance oth- 
erwise yet due from Bolivia to Mr. Colton, (holding, 
however, in abeyance, for the present, the right to 
claim damages for scores upon scores of acts of bad 
faith in the non-fulfillment of specific and solemn prom- 
ises,) to add to the last foregoing sum of indebtedness 
the interest due from March 12, 1877, that being the 
date of the last payment by Bolivia, to March i, 1878, 
on $25,384.72, which is the difference between $64,- 
460.23, the sum, with interest, of the original indebted- 
ness, independently of all expenses, up to October 13, 
1875, when the first money came to hand, and $39,- 
075.51, the whole amount thus far received from Bo- 
livia. In this way : March 12, 1877, to March i, 1878, 
II months' and 19 days' interest on $25,384.72, as 
stated above, $1,722.54, ------ 1.722.54 

Balance due to Mr. Colton, March i, 1878, - - $78,903,18 
E. E. HINTON R. HELPER, 

Attorney for Joseph H. Colton. 



The historical items in the foregoing account, the annals 
of wide divergence, and the oddly aberrant and empty 
doings of the BoHvian Congress, are worthy of very careful 
consideration, as giving a clear index to the present proceed- 
ings of the BoHvian Government; its latest action being in 
full accord with the grotesquely deceptive and dishonorable 
course which it pursued toward Mr. Colton, during more 
than half a generation, before he was finally provoked, in 
self-defence, and almost in despair, to invoke and obtain the 
sustaining intervention of the Government of the United 
States. How far this anomalous Republic, this un-Bolivat"' 



2l6 THE COLTON CLAIM 

like Bolivia, speaking so repeatedly, year in and year out, in 
its very highest capacity, through its Congresses, through a 
long succession of its Presidents, through its Ministers of 
Government in Cabinet-Council, through its Department of 
State, and otherwise in ways positive, peculiar and innumer- 
able, and yet never once complying with its engagements, 
never once having proved true to its word, is novv worthy, 
if worthy at all, of credence in this twentieth year of its un- 
conscionable tergiversations and subterfuges, is a question 
which I am quite willing to submit, here or elsewhere, now 
or hereafter, for the consideration of any number of just- 
minded men. 

As regards Peru, whose accepted and overdue draft from 
Bolivia I hold for collection, I most earnestly and emphati- 
cally protest against her assumption of the position of an ad- 
judicator or arbitrator between either Mr. Colton and Bolivia 
or between the United States and Bolivia. In this affair, as I 
contend, she cannot justly put herself forward as the champion 
of Bolivia's rights without becoming at the same time respon- 
sible for Mr. Colton's wrongs ; and if, in any voluntary or 
ex parte manner, she takes upon herself the task of redress- 
ing the alleged grievances of the Government of Bolivia, it 
is but fair and reasonable that she should be required to 
satisfy herein the rightful demands of the Government of the 
United States. What I ask of Peru, and all I ask of her, 
but what I steadfastly insist upon, is that she shall honor 
her acceptance. Any new settlement of accounts between 
BoUvia and Mr. Colton, or between the United States and 
Bolivia, in this affair, must be made in the United States or 
in Bolivia, and not in Peru. Immediate payment of the 
draft would be the performance of Peru's plain and perfect 
duty in the premises ; and this is precisely what is required 
of her by her own national law, and also by the opinion of 
her own Attorney-General. 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 2l7 

THE LAW OF ACCEPTANCES. 

Extracts from a work entitled "Banking, Currency, and 
Exchanges," by Arthur Crump, an official in the Bank of 
England. Also other authorities, on the same subject, cited 
by Mr. Helper against the Governments of Peru and Bolivia : 

" Bills of exchange, on being introduced into Great 
Britain, Avere discovered to be of greater use than merely 
as th'fe representatives of so much money, as they could be 
instrumental in effecting the assignment of a debt, and as 
such are now recognized by the common law. Not only 
was the debt transferred, but its value was inhanced, inas- 
much as the debtor himself accepted to pay a certain 
amount, from which engagement he could not afterward 
depart." 

"A bill is not finally discharged until paid by, or on be- 
half of the accepter. * * * It was held formerly that 
part payment by the drawer was a partial discharge to the 
accepter, but it is now decided that payment by the drawer 
is no plea, but sim.ply converts the holder into a trustee for 
the drawer, when the holder afterward recovers of the 
accepter." 

" No one can discharge the accepter of a bill, except the 
holder, or some one authorized by him." 

" Payment must be made to the rightful holder, as pay- 
ment to any other person does not discharge the accepter." 

Chief Justice Marshall, in deciding the case of Ogden 
versus Saunders, said: "The liability of the drawer of a 
bill of exchange stands upon the same principle with every 
other implied contract. He has received the money or its 
equivalent, of the person in whose favor the bill was drawn, 
and promises that it shall be returned by the drawee. If 
the drawee fail to pay the bill, then the promise of the 
drawer is broken, and for this breach of contract he is 



2l8 THE COLl'ON CLAIM 

liable. The same principle applies to the indorser. His 
contract is not written, but his name is evidence of his 
promise that the bill shall be paid, and of his having re- 
ceived value for it. In effect, he is a new drawer, and has 
made a new contract." 

In his " Rights of a Citizen of the United States,'' Theo- 
philus Parsons says: " When a bill of exchange is drawn,, 
nobody promises, in words, to pay it. A orders B to pay 
C. If B, when requested, says he will not do as ordered, 
the law supposes A, the drawer, to have promised that he 
would pay if B did not. If B ' accepts,' the law now sup- 
poses that B promises C to pay the bill to him. Now B, 
being the accepter, is held by the law just as a maker of a. 
note is, because he is supposed to have promised in thj- 
same way. A, the drawer, is held just as the first indorser 
of a note is held, because he is supposed to have promised 
to pay if B did not. If the bill was negotiable, that is, pay- 
able to C. or his order, then C may indorse the bill ; and 
although his name is the only one on the back of the bi 1, he 
is treated in law only as second indorser, because the drawer 
is bound in the same way as a first indorser. And if D then 
puts his name below C's, he is treated as third indorser, 
and so on. * * * If a foreign bill be not accepted, or 
be not paid at maturity, it should at once be protested by a 
notary public. Inland bills are generally, and promissory 
notes frequently, protested; but this is not generally re- 
quired by the law. The holder of a foreign bill, after pro- 
test for non-payment, or for non-acceptance, may sue the 
drawer and indorser, and recover the face of the bill, and, 
in addition thereto, his damages, which damages, on protest,. 
are generally adjudged in this country by various statutes,, 
which give greater damages as the distance is greater ; and 
an established usage would supply the place of statutes if 
they were wanting." 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 219 

MINISTER GIBBS TO MR. HELPER. 

Legation of the United States of America, 

Llma, Peru, Aj>ril 2, 1878. 
H. R. Helper, Es^., Lima. 

Sir: I have the honor of acknowledging the recei[)t of 
your favors of yesterday and to-day. with inclosures. I 
have had a prolonged interview with the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs to-day, in relation to the draft of Bolivia on Peru, in 
favor of Mr. Colton. accepted by Peru, but remaining un- 
paid at the request of the Bolivian Government. I have 
used all the arguments at my command in reference to this 
affair, and also all my personal influence to persuade the 
Minister of Foreign affairs to honor Peru's acceptance ; but 
he answered me by stating that the Bolivian Minister had 
documents showing that an error of importance had been 
discovered in the claim of Mr. Colton, and on that account 
they could not pay, but would deposit the money until the 
affair was cleared up. 

i\Ir. RospigUosi proposed that I should see the Bolivian 
Minister, Mr. Flores, which I dec'ined to do, and referred 
him to you and your agent. Regretting very much that I 
have not been able to induce the Minister to comply with 
what appears to me to be simple justice, I think that your 
only plan now is to protest in due form, through the proper 
parties, against whom it may concern ; and a copy of the 
protest should be deposited in this Legation. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

RICHARD GIBBS. 



2 20 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Lima, Peru, April 19, 1878. 
Hon. William i\L Evarts, 

Secretary of State ^ IVashmgtoJt. 

Sir: Through the unbhishhig duplicity and perfidy of 
two nations, Peru and Bolivia, acting conjointly, I am now 
the victim here of the most burdensome and unbearable in- 
justice which has ever yet been inflicted on me; my aged 
friend, Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, being a fellow 
sufferer with me, in consequence of the iniquitous conduct 
of this brace of disorderly and disreputable Republics. 
The last letter wliich I had the honor of addressing to you 
upon this subject was written at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, on 
the loth of November, 1877 ; and in view of the fact that, 
for many years previously, it had been necessary for me, and 
for other agents and attorneys of Mr. Colton, in endeavor- 
ing to secure the rights of our client, to write very often and 
very voluminously to your predecessors in the State Depart- 
ment at Washington, from General Cass to Secretary Fish 
inclusive, I had hoped, in view also of the terms of final 
settlement agreed upon, in 1876, between the Government 
of Bolivia and Mr. Reynolds, our last Minister at La Paz, 
that no new occasion would ever arise for troubling you 
further in reference to a simple matter of business, which, 
but for the woful absence of sound morals in and about 
Bolivia, would have been privately and properly adjusted 
nearly twenty years ago. 

The inclosed Protest against Peru, duly verified before the 
United States Consul at Callao, so fully explains the object 
of this letter that I need not here enter into a lengthy reex- 
planation of it. I trust, however, that the protest itself may 
receive your careful consideration and action. Li the hope 
of being able at once to get this protest before the Peruvian 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 221 

Government through the United States Legation at Lima, 
I offered it to the' Hon, Richard Gibbs, our Minister here, 
requesting him to transmit it to the Hon. Secretary of State 
of Peru ; but, according to his opinion, he had no authority 
nor duty to dispatch the document to this Government, and 
so returned it to me, referring me to you for instructions to 
himself in that regard. I therefore respectfully and earn- 
estly request that you will be good enough to instruct Minis- 
ter Gibbs to deliver or send to this Government the inclosed 
Protest ; and, if international law and the antecedents of the 
case will justify you in so doing, instruct him, at the same 
time, to demand immediate payment by Peru of her accept- 
ed draft to my order; leaving Mr. Colton and BoHvia, and 
also the United States and Bolivia, free from constraint to 
fight out their grievances or their differences on the neutral, 
or what ought to be neutral, territory of Peru. 

Under advice from Minister Gibbs and other Americans 
in Lima, I have been trying, though as yet unsuccessfully, to 
institute proceedings in the Supreme Court of Peru, for a 
mandamus requiring the Government to pay the draft ; the 
Attorney-General of the Republic having already given his 
opinion very clearly in my favor; yet, strange to say, his 
opinion, though very unmistakably and strongly condemna- 
tory of the action of Peru in not honoring her own accept- 
ance, does not seem to have produced any perceptible 
impression on the higher functionaries of his Government. 
So many are the difficulties which I have to encounter, and 
so formidable are the obstacles which I have to surmount, 
in connection with the danger of years and years of over- 
whelmingly expressive litigation, where no litigation whatever 
should be required, that I very much fear I may never be 
able to obtain justice here by any process of law. Three 
weeks ago I myself, in person, offered my protest in English 
to this Government, but it refused positively to receive it 



::2 THa C9LT0N CLAIM 

from me; and, as already stated above, Minister Gibbs says 
he has no authority, no obligation, no instruction, to deliver 
it for me. Ever since the 4th instant I have been equally 
baffled in my efforts to get before the Government here a 
much shorter protest in Spanish ; the laws of Peru requiring 
all protests against the Government, or any department 
thereof, to be made out in accordance with various specified 
formalities; one of the indispensable conditions in this case 
being that the paper from Bolivia, upon which Peru bases 
her refusal to pay her accepted draft, shall accompany the 
protest ; and that paper so absolutely necessary as a pre- 
liminary step, and which could probably be easily copied 
within ten minutes, this Government, apparently indifferent 
to my petition, has thus far failed to furnish ; constantly ex- 
cusing itself on the flimsy and heardess plea of lack of time 
to make the copy for which, more than two weeks ago, I 
presented a respectful written application. Pray let your in- 
structions to Minister Gibbs be just as pointed and strong 
as p )ssible; as otherwise nothing good, nothing reasonable, 
nothing right, can be accomplished with these people. This 
letter, with its inclosures, will reach you through the hands of 
Mr. Colton ; but both the letter and the protest have been 
submitted for the perusal of the Hon. Mr. Gibbs, our Minister 
in Lima. Your letter to me, — if you will be kind enough to 
reply to this communication,— may be addressed to me, in 
care of our Legation here. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 223 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ROSPIGLIOSI. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, April 22, 1878. 
To His Excellency the Hon. J. C. Julio Rospigliosi, 

Secretary of State for Peru. 

Sir : A stranger in Peru, a citizen of the United States 
of America, I feel that I have a right to make respectful 
complaint to your Excellency of two weighty wrongs, which 
I am now suffering because of action in the one case, and 
because of inaction in the other, by the Peruvian Govern- 
ment toward me. On the first day of last month, I pre- 
sented to the Hon. Secretary of the Treasury a draft from 
the Government of Bolivia to my order, as the attorney for 
Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, for $19,609.40 in 
silver, which had previously been duly accepted by Peru, to 
be paid on that day, and which, in both law and justice, and 
in conformity with the universal rules of correct business, 
Peru should have then paid, but did not; assigning as a 
reason that Bolivia had interposed the allegation that a mis- 
take had been made in the settlement of her account with 
]Mr. Colton, through Mr. Reynolds, the last United States 
Minister at La Paz. That strange and erroneous allegation 
by Bolivia was in characteristic keeping with her almost 
twenty-years' equivocations and artifices and dehnquencies 
in this affair. The true balance, the balance in equity, due to 
Mr. Colton from Bolivia, on the first day of last month, as 
shown in the inclosed account, to which I beg your Excel- 
lency's attention, was $78,903.18 in gold. 

Against Peru's refusal to pay her accepted draft, I offered, 
about three weeks ago, to the Hon. Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, my protest in English, executed before the L^nited States 
Consul at Callao ; but the Hon. Secretary declined to re- 
ceive it from me ; stating that it must be made out and pre- 
sented in accordance with the laws of the country ; which 



2 24 1'^^ COLTON CLAIM 

same laws, as I am well-informed, also require that all 
accepted drafts shall be promptly paid on presentation, when 
due, except only where there is a false signature, as there 
certainly is not in this case. Going then to a local lawyer, 
I consulted him on the subject, and he at once, acting for 
me, made out a request for a copy of the paper from Bolivia 
on which Peru had refused to pay her accepted draft ; re- 
questing, also, a copy of the opinion of Peru's Attorney- 
(ieneral, whose fidelity to the just and enlightened laws of 
his country led him to report very clearly in my favor. Al- 
most every day, since the 4th instant, a friend and myself 
have been trying very hard to obtain those papers, as neces- 
sary preliminaries for a protest acceptable to the Hon. Sec- 
retary of the Treasury ; but we have been baffled and de- 
layed until I am greatly depressed with disappointment and 
discouragement. Under these circumstances, I trust that it 
is not too much for me to ask of your Excellency the favor 
of so far waiving mere formaHties as either to accept, for the 
Government of Peru, my protest in EngHsh, or to facilitate 
me in obtaining the papers mentioned above, so that, through 
my lawyer, I may make out and present one in Spanish. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER FLORES. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, April 23, 1878. 
To His Excellency the Hon. Zoilo Flores, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plejiipotentiary 

fro?n Bolivia to Peru. 
Sir : So large a proportion of the comparatively small 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



225 



number of Bolivians with whom it has been my privilege to 
become personally acquainted, have been men of truth, jus- 
tice and honor, tliat I am very much surprised not to hnd 
those excellent traits of individual character more adequate- 
ly reflected in the public life and career of the nation. 
When an aged and veracious man, of four score years, who 
has been in active- business, with his own and other coun- 
tries, ever since he attained his majority, asserts that a single 
transaction into which he was involuntarily drawn, nearly 
twenty years ago, by a certain nationality, has, because of 
the almost coundess number of acts of bad faith toward him 
on the part of that nationality, cost him more loss and 
trouble, and corroding care end anxiety, than all the other 
adverse concerns of his life put together, his words consti- 
tute a very strong and serious indictment against that nation- 
ality ; and that is precisely the indictment which Mr. Joseph 
H. Colton, an octogenarian, of New York, whose attorney I 
am, now makes against Bolivia. The inclosed Account on 
the one hand and Protest on the other, to which I have the 
honor to invite your Excellency's attention, are, for the pres- 
ent at least, sufficiently explanatory of all the matters at 
issue affecting my cHent's peculiar misfortunes in this unfor- 
tunate affair. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER FLORES. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, May 16, 1878. 
To His Excellenxy the Hon. Zoilo Flores, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 

from Bolivia to Peru. 
Sir: On my return to Lima, last evening, from Chicla, 

14 



2 26 THE COLTON CLAIM 

the present eastern terminus of the Oroya Railroad, I 
received your communication of tlie 13th instant, inclosing 
the Letter, Account and Protest, which I had the honor to 
address to your Excellency on the 23d ultimo. Three 
weeks' retention of these papers by your Excellency would 
seem to warrant the inference that you .have probably had 
them translated into Spanish, and have therefore no fur. her 
need of the originals in English. That a twenty-years' delin- 
quent should deliberately return his creditor's just account 
unpaid, without apology or explanation, and, at the same 
time, as an additional act of wrongfulness, upbraid and 
insult his injured victim, certainly proves the existence of a 
condition of things in human affairs most lamentably at 
variance with the wishes and expectations of the more san- 
guine school of optimists ; and although the sending back 
of such an account, under such circumstances, may serve as 
a cheap and temporary convenience, yet it is very far indeed 
from being either an equitable or a courteous method of 
satisfying an honest debt. 

Ever since 1858, the treacherous course which Bolivia has 
persistently pursued toward her unfortunate creditor Colton, 
has been marked by a species of Machiavelism and duplicity 
so inexpressibly vile and shameless as to be absolutely with- 
out a precedent or parallel in any other nation of the New 
World. No sooner has one set of her peculiarly egotistic 
and destructive revolutionists arranged, in words at least, 
for a future payment of the claim, than another set, without 
knowing or caring to know anything of the essential ante- 
cedents of the case, have come into power, only to mystify 
and frustrate the proceedings of their predecessors. Thus 
it is that the prominent features of this noteworthy case 
constitute, on the part of Bolivia, a long and knotty series 
of scores and hundreds and thousands of grossly violated 
promises and agreements, verbal and written, legal and 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 22 7 

diplomatic, ministerial and congressional ; always, too, at 
the grievous discomfitm"e and cost and dismay of the hap- 
less Colton and his several agents and attorneys. 

Before receiving your Excellency's communication of the 
13th instant, I had been led to apprehend that an occasion 
might probably soon arise, rendering it right and proper for 
me to submit all the facts of this very remarkable case for 
the consideration and action of the Peruvian Congress ; the 
matter at issue having already occupied the serious atten- 
tion of the Congress of the United States of America, and 
also, many times and oft and farcically, of the Congress of 
Bolivia. In this particular regard, your Excellency's com- 
munication has very effectually settled the important ques- 
tion, which, for a fortnight or more, I have been mentally 
debating. If I am to be detained here until the first day 
of July, I shall immediately thereafter prepare, in Spanish, 
as briefly as possible, a comprehensive history of the Colton 
claim against Bolivia, and, in the form of a memorial, will 
lay the same before both houses of the Congress of Peru, 
on the very first day of its opening ; petitioning for such 
just and decisive action on their part as I shall therein 
specifically solicit; using a copy of this letter itself as a 
basis for the document which, in the event contemplated, I 
■shall have the honor of presenting to the most august and 
-authoritative assemblage of Peruvian statesmen. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully. 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



2 28 THE COLTON CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO CONSUL-GENERAL LANFRANCO. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, May 20, 1878. 
Hon. Joaquin P. Lanfranco, 

Con su I- Gen era I for Bo lit ' ia in Peru . 
Sir : In the first place, let me assure you that, for your- 
self personally, as also for other very estimable and worthy 
Bolivians whom I have met, both within their country and 
without, and whom I like almost as well as I like myself, I 
entertain entire respect and good will ; only I wish to say 
this, — that, for Bolivia in the aggregate, for Bolivia as a. 
nationality, I have no respect whatever ; she having, long 
ago, by her course and cruel and criminal conduct toward 
my client Colton and myself, forfeited all claims to even 
common civility ; and further, as an additional preliminary 
remark, let me state that having myself nothing to do with 
the delicate dodges of diplomacy, only to despise them, I 
feel that I can well afford to be straightforward, use plain 
language, and tell the truth. Since, as a new link in an old 
and long chain of offense, it has pleased Bolivia to subject 
me to the great inconvenience and cost of appearing before 
the Peruvian tribunals and the Peruvian public in que.->t of 
an oft-times demonstrated matter of law and equity, which 
she now basely denies, I am yet determined to make the best 
possible use of my rather solitary and disadvantageous situa- 
tion, in the endeavor to properly expose and counteract this 
latest phase of her flagitious folly and faithlessness ; it being 
already more than five years since I ceased to occupy to- 
ward that most pernicious power the humble position of a 
petitioner for justice, and took upon myself, as I still take, 
all the responsibiHty of speaking only from the standpoint of 
an unyielding demandant of my rights. It was in this mood, 
after nearly fifteen years of respectful waiting and continu- 
ous application, without any other result than such an over- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 2 20 

flowing flood of flagrantly false assurances as one might 
expect to hear only from a blatant mob of utterly unveraci- 
ous and characterless creatures, like the sable sons of 
Senegambia, or the serpentsellers of Soudan that I carried 
the case, successfully, into the Congress of the United 
States, where, if not settled meanwhile, I shall again carry it, 
on the first Monday of December next : and it is in this 
■same mood, moreover, that I purpose carrying it into the 
Congress of Peru, about two months hence, provided I am 
to be detained here until that time. Of this determination 
on my part, (but in somewhat different phraseology,) I have 
already given information to his Excellency, the Hon. Zoilo 
Flores, the Bolivian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary in Peru. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Lima, Peru, May 20, 1878. 
Hon. William M. Evarts, 

Secretary of State, Washmgton. 
Sir: The suit of Mr. Colton and myself against the 
Government of Peru, for payment of its accepted draft, 
over-due here ever since the first day of last March, drawn 
by the Government of Bolivia on the 12th of October, 1876, 
to my order, for $19,609.40 in silver, has now reached a con- 
dition wherein, under a special decree of President Prado, 
issued a few days since, it is only required of me, in order 
to obtain the money, to give a satisfactory bond in the sum 
•of the amount due; but as this government will not accept 



230 THE COLIOX CLAIM 

the alien bond of Mr. Colton and myself, and I can here 
give no odier, the object of this letter is to request that you 
will be good enough to instruct our Minister here, the Hon. 
Richard Gibbs, (if he is not already instructed to demand 
payment of the said accepted draft, without a bond or any 
other irregular and burdensome condition,) to give his 
official obligation for me, which I feel confident he may very 
safely do, in view of the real facts of the case in law and 
equity, in view also of the action in the matter by the Con- 
gress of the United States, and in further view of the 
weighty consideration that Peru merely desires, by this extra 
and formal proceeding, to preserve the friendliest possible 
relations with her near neighbor, Bolivia. 

At my particular request, this letter will be transmitted to- 
you by Minister Gibbs himself, who will, I suppose, take oc- 
casion to express to you his own opinion of the propriety or 
impropriety of complying with my wishes ; for I really do 
not know what his judgment is in this regard. If, however,, 
you should not feel fully justified in instructing him to give 
his official bond, for me to receive the money here, you may, 
if you please, instruct him to give such bond, and then trans- 
mit the money to your order, as Secretary of State at Wash- 
ington, or to the order of the Hon. John Sherman, Secretary 
of the Treasury ; for, although Mr. Colton and myself^ 
being only " Gringos " and non-residents, cannot readily 
give an acceptable bond for nineteen thousand six hundred 
dollars in Peru, yet we shall experience very little trouble in 
doing so in the United States. As I shall be detained here,, 
on additional expenses and loss of time, anxiously awaiting 
your reply, I trust that you will be so kind as to favor me,, 
through Minister Gibbs, with as early an answer as may ac- 
cord with your convenience. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 23 1 

SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. COLTON. 

Department of State, 
Washington, May 25, 1878. 
Joseph H. Colton, Esq., New York. 

Sir: I have received your letter of the iBth instant, with 
Mr. Helper's letter and proposed protest. The vexatious 
delay to which the discharge of your claim against Bolivia 
has been subjected, is cordially sympathized with. Mr. 
Helper seems to have acquitted himself, as your agent, with 
great zeal and perseverance. It is regaided as certain, how- 
ever, that Peru would not be hastened in paying the draft of 
Bolivia, which she has accepted, if Mr. Helper's protest were 
to be officially presented to her. That protest contains ex- 
pressions, in regard not only to herself, but also in regard to 
her neighbor, at which she would be likely to take such seri- 
ous offense that she would be apt to return it to Mr. Gibbs, 
if he were to be authorized to present it. Under these circum- 
stances, there seems to be, at present, no just occasion for 
the intervention of this Government diplomatically, in any 
representation to the Government of Peru. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WM. M. EVARTS. 



SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, May 25, 1878. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esquire, Lima, Peru. 

Sir : I have received your letter of the 19th ultimo, with 
a protest of yours against the Government of Peru for neg- 
lecting to pay a draft upon it of the Government of Bolivia, 



232 .THE COLTON CLAIM 

issued in discharge of the debt of that Republic to Mr. Jo- 
seph H. Colton, of New York, which draft had been accept- 
ed by the Peruvian Government. You ask that Mr. Gibbs, 
the Minister of the United States at Lima, may be instructed 
to present your protest to that Government, and to insist on 
the payment of the draft In reply I have to express my 
regret, that, while I heartily sympathize with the inconven- 
ience which Mr, Colton has experienced in obtaining the 
payment of his debt, I am not prepared to comply with your 
request. It is understood that Bolivia claims that there was 
a mistake made in stating the account against her. This 
led her to request Peru to decline payment oi the draft, 
which request has been complied with. It seems to me 
that, under these circumstances, there is, at present, no just 
occasion, for this Government to make any diplomatic rep- 
resentations to the Government of Peru, in the matter. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WM. M. EVARTS. 



MR. HELPER TO THE SUPREME JUSTICES OF 
PERU. 

Hotel Maury, Llal\, June 6, 1878. 
To the Hono7-able the Members of 

the Supreme Court of Peru. 
Learned and Illustrious Gentlemen : Coming before 
you as a citizen of the United States of America, a stranger 
in Peru, I beg the privilege of thus appealing to you for 
prompt deliverance in a very simple matter wherein I am 
now, and have been for the last three months and more, 
suffering here serioiis restraint, injustice and injury. In con- 
sequence of the default of the Peruvian Government, in dis- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



233 



honoring its accepted draft, for $19,609.40 in silver, due to 
my order on the first day of last March. I am, greatly to 
my disinclination and detriment, detained here on expenses, 
in suspense, losing valuable time, and prevented from the 
fulfillment of various important engagements ; besides being 
subjected to the peculiarly painful circumstances of unex- 
pected and indefinite separation from my family and friends 
flir away. Some time after Peru's indefensible default in 
this affair, while considering the propriety of applying to 
the Supreme Court, which, however, was not then in session, 
for an order requiring the Government to honor its accept- 
ance, in conformity with the laws of the Republic, a gentle- 
man, himself one of the officials of Peru, remarked to me, 
that he regarded the case as being so very clear and bind- 
ing .against the Government, that he thought the Court 
would probably issue the order immediately, that is to say, on 
the same day of the submission of the question to the dis- 
tinguished Justices of your High Tribunal. In any event 
he seemed to think that not more than ten days, at most, 
would be allowed to lapse before the desired order would be 
given. 

It is now nearly four weeks since this case, plain and per- 
spicuous as it is, was placed on the docket of the Supreme 
Court ; but I am even yet, with much unavoidable impatience 
and anxiety, kept w^aiting for a decision. I had myself 
indulged the hope and expectation that only a few minutes 
would suffice for the determination of the question whether, 
under the obvious and explicit provisions of Peruvian law, 
and, in fact, of all laws defining the absolute and sacred obliga- 
tions of acceptances, the Government should not be required 
to honor at once its regularly and unconditionally accepted 
draft. In order that my rights and interests may suffer no 
further damage nor delay in Peru, I now entreat your Hon- 
ors to consider and act upon the facts here presented, and 



2 34 THE COLTON CLAIM 

SO, with your usual wisdom and equity, remove from me all 
the multiform burdens of subjection forced upon me by the 
Government's unwarrantable delinquency. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Honor's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, June 17, 1878. 
Hinton R. Helper, Esq., Lima, Peru. 

Sir: Your letter of the 20th ultimo has been received... 
It appears that a bond in the amount due, having been 
required of you by the Peruvian Government, in the suit 
against it in the case of the accepted draft of the Bolivian 
Government, the former Government will not accept you 
and Mr. Colton, your principal, as obligors in the bond. 
You consequently ask me to instruct Mr. Gibbs, the Minis- 
ter of the United States at Lima, to give his official bond 
for you. If, however, I should not deem it expedient to 
instruct Mr. Gibbs to give his official bond for you, to receive 
the money there, you then ask that he may be instructed to 
give such bond and remit the money payable to my order. 
In reply I regret to state that I have no authority to give 
Mr. Gibbs the instructions you desire. However unsatis- 
factorily and embarrassing to your interests the action of 
the Peruvian Government in this matter may be, it is quite 
out of my power to relieve you from its inconvenience. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WM. M. EVARTS. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 2^ 

MR. HELPER TO JUSTICE OVIEDO. 



OD 



Hotel Maury, Lima, Jime 21, 1878. 
To His Honor, Judge Oviedo, 

President of the Supreme Court of Peru. 

Learned and Illustrious Sir : May it please your 
Honor to pardon any seeming impatience on my part. All 
the reasons and grievances which impelled me to address 
your Honor, about two weeks ago, touching Peru's uncon- 
ditionally accepted draft, overdue to my order ever since 
the first day of last March, still exist, wiih increased magni- 
tude. I beg therefore for the privilege to be understood as 
now reiterating those special reasons and grievancc:s, and 
also the respectful petition founded upon them. My request 
is a very simple one ; and it is quite as lawful and just as it is 
simple. I only ask that your equitable and honorable tri- 
bunal will issue an order, requiring the Government of Peru 
to honor its own unconditional acceptance ; in other words, 
to maintain good faith with me ; to keep its definite promise ; 
to meet its positive engagement ; to be true to its written obli- 
gation ; to fulfil its solemn contract. Such action, and only 
such action, on the part of the Peruvian Government, will 
be in harmony with the categorical rules and laws of accept- 
ances which obtain among all the highly enlightened and 
rightly progressing nations of the earth. Hoping and trust- 
ing that your Honor, acting in concert with your erudite and 
distinguished Associate Justices on the Supreme Bench of 
Peru, may soon be pleased to relieve me from the condition 
of aggravated suspense and injury which now oppresses me 
in Lima, 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Honors' obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



236 THE COLTON CLAIiM 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER FLORES. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, July 6, 1878. 
To His Excellency the Hon. Zoilo Flores, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 

Plenipotentiary from Bolivia to Peru, 

Sir: Sincerely regretting the existence of the wrongful 
and Yexatious circumstances which impose on me the obH- 
gation of addressing your excellency on a subject in the least 
disagreeable to yourself, I yet have the honor to inclose 
herewith, for such attention, if any, as your Excellency may 
be pleased to bestow upon it, a copy of a somewhat lengthy 
communication which I addressed, yesterday afternoon, to 
the Hon. Manuel Antonio Barinaga, Secretary of the Peru- 
vian Treasury, in relation to my demand for payment by the 
Government of Peru of its accepted draft, for $19,609.40 in 
silver, drawn on it by Bolivia on the 12th of October, 1876, 
unconditionally accepted at Lima on the 23d of the same 
month, and here dishonored and overdue to my order ever 
since the first day of last March. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO EX-MINISTER BENAVENTE. 

Lima, Peru, July 7, 1878. 
Hon. Juan de la Cruz Benavente, 

Ex- Minister from Bolivia . 
Dear Sir: In behalf of the whole sisterhood of Ameri- 
can States; those of them especially which are most truly 
Republican in their forms and practices of government, and 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



'2>7 



which are most enh'ghtened and progressive in whatever con- 
tributes to the highest welfare of mankind ; in behalf of the 
purest and' broadest principles of truth and justice ; and 
also in behalf of the frank and artless methods of modern 
diplomacy ; I have the honor to protest to you, first, against 
Bolivia's long series of wrongful actions against my client, 
Mr. Jo^e)h H. Colton, of New York, and myself, and next, 
against the discourteous and unministerial conduct, as I un- 
derstand it, of his Excellency Senor Doctor Don Zoilo Flores, 
the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from 
Bolivia to Peru, in refusing, as he has refused, to accept 
from my messenger the accompanying original letter, which, 
with the inclosure therein, referred to, I addressed to him 
yesterday ; the said inclosure being one which deals directly 
Avith the honor and interests of his Excellency's country. 
You will readily perceive, therefore, how any further com- 
munication from me to his Excellency has been made im- 
possible. 

Under really extraordinary provocations, I have just pre- 
pared, and am about to publish, a Memorial to the Congress 
of Peru on the subject of the Colton Map Claim against 
Bolivia; an eminently just, though inimically delayed and 
most expensive claim, of nearly twenty years' standing, and 
which, since 1858, has been a matter of very serious con- 
cern with several Congresses of Bolivia, one Congress of the 
United States of America, eight Presidents of BoHvia, seven 
Ministers of the United States, and numerous other func- 
tionaries and attorneys and agents of both countries. The 
publication in Peru of the simple facts in this case will, I 
firmly believe, be an irreparable injury to Bolivia. Why, 
then, should I, a stranger here, an American, by publishing 
those facts, cause injury to Bolivia ? Because Bolivia arbi- 
trarily and willfully and persistently, both at home and 
abroad, withholds justice from me ; and, as a last and only 



238 THE COLTON CLAIM 

resort this side of my own government, I must now seek my 
rights whjrever and however they may be obtained; and, 
as it s.ens to mj, my rights herein can henceforth be 
obtained only through a full and public explanation of all the 
antecedent proceedings in the case. While I would myself 
do no wrong, I am unwilling to submit patiently to wrongs 
perversely done by others. Toward all governments and 
peoples and individuals, I should, with fair treatment, much 
prefer to be on a friendly footing, rather than on terms 
antagonistic. 

Is there no way, then, by which I may receive justice 
without having to adopt harsh, exasperative and disruptive 
measures ? It is morally certain that such a way ought 
to be found among reasonable and upright man ; and if you 
have; any suggestion to mi^e, with a view of avoiding the 
unseemly exhibition of Bjlivia's twenty years' strange and 
indefensible delinquencies in this affair, it shall, if presented 
within the next two days, be considered in the very highest 
spirit of candor and amity and rectitude in which it may be 
offered. Saluting you as an able and distinguished gentle- 
man, to myself unknown personally, but of whom, — and 
more particularly of your very estimable wife, Mrs. Bena- 
vente, — I have heard my own good wife, formerly Miss 
^laria Louisa Rodriguez, of Buenos Ayres, often speak in 
terms of the sincerest praise, she having known you both 
very well, many years ago, when you were the Envoy Extra- 
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from Bolivia to the 
Argentine Repubhc, 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 239 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER PALACIOS. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, July Z, 1878. 

To His Excellency the Hoji. Fernando Palacios, 

Minister of Government for Peru. 
Sir: Since you have ceased to be a mere Counsellor at 

Law, and have become a Councillor of St^e, leaving me 
and my suit, against the Government of Peru, in worthy but 
less able hands, I feel very perceptibly that, in this respect, 
the Republic's gain is my loss. Nevertheless, although I 
may no longer consult your Excellency as my Legal Adviser, 
yet I beg the privilege of appealing to you, and I now 
appeal to yon- accordingly, as a Minister of Justice. Your 
Excellency is already familiar with the facts, the law, and the 
equity of my demand. The case is very plain and very 
simple ; as much so, indeed, as daylight is distinguishable 
from darkness. I hold Peru's unconditionally accepted 
draft, due and overdue to my order ever since die first day 
of last March, for $19,609.40 in silver, in a matter wherein 
the whole amount due in exact justice, by Bolivia, the 
drawer of the draft, on an always recognized but never paid 
claim, of nearly twenty years' standing, should have been, 
instead of only $19,609.40 in silver, $78,903.18 in gold. 

Most respectfully and earnestly do I request that Peru 
will now honorably discharge her obligation to me, and no 
longer countenance Bolivia in the gross and unfeeling wrongs 
which the Government of that country has herein so long and 
so repeatedly and so atrociously committed. In connection 
with this request I have the honor to solicit your careful 
perusal of the inclosed copy of a communication which I 
addressed, on the 5th instant, to the Hon. Manuel Antonio 
Barinaga, Secretary of the Peruvian Treasury. I trust that 
an official translation of the original of thatvcommunication 
.has been made, and that it may very soon be the subject of 



240 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



a right decision in Cabinet Council. Pray, sir, be kind 
enough to discuss this matter frankly with His Supreme 
Excellency President Prado and other high officers of State, 
and let me be informed, at the earliest convenient opportu- 
nity, of the result of the joint deliberations of your several 
Exc-^llencies thereon. 

I have tli^ honor to be, very faithfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



jMR. HELPER'S PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO THE 
CONGRESS OF PERU. 

Bolivia's National Maps, 

Twenty years (lacking less than one month,) after the date 
of publication, still awaiting payment; 

And 

Peru's Unxoxditionally Accepted Draft, 

Six months overdue, in this connection, and yet unpaid. 

A 

Memorial from Hinton Rowan Helper, 

iVttorney for Joseph H. Colton, of New York, (who ever 
since September 21, 1S58, has been an extraordinarily har- 
assed and maltreated creditor of Bolivia,) to the Honora- 
ble AND Illustrious Congress of Peru. 



Lima, Peru, September 2, 1878. 
To the Hono7'ahle the Senators and Representatives 

of the Republic of Peru. 
Gentlemen : Without having the honor of being person- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 24 1 

ally acquainted with a single member of the Honorable and 
Illustrious Congress of Peru, whether in the Upper or Lower 
House, I' nevertheless come before you, in behalf of my 
client, ]\Ir. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, and myself, as 
an humble petitioner for the redress of a special grievance, 
which now afflicts me in Lima, as the result of a strange lack 
of good faith due to one of the Peruvian Government's most 
solemn and sacred written contracts, — an unconditionally 
accepted draft, for $19,609.40 in silver, drawn by the Gov- 
ernment of Bolivia on the 12th of October, 1876, regularly 
accepted by the Government of Peru on the 23d of the same 
month, and here overdue to my order ever since the first 
day of March of the present year. 

Although I am a citizen of the United States of America, 
and am not so fortunate as to be in the least known among 
you, yet I am quite willing to trust myself and my cause en- 
tirely in your hands, believing that, as wise and upright 
statesmen, uninfluenced by mere personal considerations, 
you will readily recognize the obvious merits of my prayer, 
and promptly grant me the simple measure of justice which 
I now soHcit. The face of the draft itself, including the ac- 
ceptance, (the back of the document showing proper indorse- 
ment to my order,) is in these very words, being here freely 
and fairly translated into EngHsh 

( Copy. — Translanon. ) 

For $19,609.40 
Department of State. 

La Paz, Bolivia, October, 12, 1876. 



[seal.] 



On the first day of March, 1878, you w^ill please pay, at 
sight of this original First of Exchange, to the order of Mr. 



?42 THE COLTON CLAIM 

R. M. Reynolds, the sum of nineteen thousand six 
hundred and nine dollars and forty cents, in current money 
of gold or silver, which, as a last payment, is debited to 
Mr. J. H. Colton, in settlement of his account against this 
Government for the Maps of Bolivia. This said sum I have 
credited in the current account of our subvention with yqu 
in regard to your Custom House at Arica, and have so in- 
formed you by letter. 

J. OBLITAS, 

Secretary of State. 

Manuel Pexafil, 

Chief Clerk of the State Department. 

To His Excellency the Peruvian Minister of Finance and 
Commerce, Lima, Peru. 



Treasury Department, 
[seal.] Llma, Peru, October 23, 1876. 

xAcCEPTED, 

Jose Quixoxes. 



New York, November 27, 1876: Pay to the order of 
Hmton R. Helper. 

R. M. Reynolds. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 243 

New York, Mack 21, 1877: Pay to the order of Messrs. 
Prevost & Co., of Lima, Peru. 

HiNTON R. Helper. 



Lima, Peru, April 26, 1878: Pay to the order of Mr. 
Hinton R. Helper, from whom we received this document 
for collection on his account, which we have been unable to 
effect. 

Prevost & Co. 



A complete narration of all the antecedent transactions 
and facts and circumstances which led to the issuance of the 
foregoing draft by Bolivia, would cover a period of but little 
less than a score of years, during which time the very ordinary 
matter of business involved has occupied the attention of eight 
Presidents of Bolivia, seven Ministers of the United States, 
several Congresses of Bolivia, one Congress of the United 
States of America, numerous Secretaries of State and other 
high officials of each country, and various attorneys, agents 
and friends, both at home and abroad ; and has meanwhile 
cost the peculiarly injured and unfortunate claimant and his 
partners and coadjutors, in addition to the immense labor 
and loss of time, and the serious wear and tear of mind 
arising from so many unconscionable hindrances and delays, 
more than twice the amount of money which was originally 
due. If all the documents and other papers which have 
passed in the premises, should be published in book form, 
they would, I feel confident, fill at least four volumes as 
large, each, as the quarto edition of the Spanish Academy's 
Tocabulary of the Castilian Tongue, or Webster's Un- 



244 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



abridged Dictionary of the English Language. In a word, 
the case is one which, well considered in all its phases and 
bearings, should justly excite against Bolivia the profoundest 
indignation and loathing of all fair-minded men. A scanty 
but insufficient summary of Bolivia's reckless and reprehen- 
sible career in this affair may be given thus : 

1. On the 8th of March, 1858, a Cabinet Council of the 
Republic of Bolivia passed a Supreme Resolution author- 
izing the publication of the National Map of Bolivia, which 
was then only in manuscript. 

2. On the 2 1 St of September, 1858, Colonel Juan Ondarza 
and Commandant Juan Mariano Mujia, two distinguished 
military and topographical engineers of Bolivia, who were 
the authors of the map in manuscript, duly commissioned 
by the Government of Bolivia to procure the engraving and 
publishing of the same, having gone to New York for tliat 
particular purpose, there entered into a written agreement 
with Mr. Joseph H. Colton, by which he was to furnish them 
ten thousand copies of the map, as per dimensions and ma- 
terials specified, and to be finished in superior style. With 
his own part of the said agreement, Mr. Colton scrupulously 
complied, receiving the fullest expressions of perfect satis- 
faction from both of the Bolivian Commissioners in Ne\y 
York, and also, afterward, from the Government of Bolivia 
itself. 

3. On the 7th of May, i860, the money due on the maps 
not having been paid in conformity with the terms of the 
agreement, the Bolivian Cabinet ordered full payment to 
be made, — but paid not one cent. 

4. On the 1 2th of August, 1861, the Congress of Bolivia, 
by a special Resolution, authorized payment of the amount 
due, — but paid nothing at all. 

5. On the 2 2d of July, 1863, the Bolivian Congress again 
ordered payment to be made, — but paid nothing whatever. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



245 



6. On the 27th of October, 1864, the Congress of Bolivia 
once more, by formal and solemn Act, directed payment to 
be made,' — but paid not so much as the tenth part of a 
sliver. 

7. On the I St of February, 1872, the Bolivian Cabinet, 
like the BoHvian Congresses and other Bolivian tribunals, 
always fruitful of fair promises, but never once proving true 
to any engagement of honor or veracity in the claimant's 
behalf, again, upon the " religious " fidelity and character of 
the nation, ordered, but ordered in vain, payment of the 
amount due. So much pelf as would purchase the pearly 
and pigmy pith of one petty pea was not paid. 

8. On the 3d of March, 1875, the Congress of the United 
States of America, to which Mr. Colton, almost in despair, 
had earnestly appealed for redress, passed an Act calling on 
the Government of Bolivia to pay the money. 

9. On the loth of May, 1875, l^ss than three months after 
the passage of the significant Act of the American Congress 
at Washington, President Frias, of Bolivia, and the Hon. 
Robert M. Reynolds, the Minister of the United States, at 
La Paz, agreed upon terms of final settlement. Under the 
conditions of this agreement, formally executed in duplicate, 
the debt was to be liquidated in installments. Yet not one 
of the installments so agreed upon was ever paid in the full 
amount due, nor at the time due ; and, besides, previous to 
the maturity of the last obhgation, a new revolution and a 
new President in Bolivia threw everything into confusion in 
that country, as, from the same or similar causes, things 
there had so often been thrown before. 

10. On the 1 2th of October, 1876. after correspondence 
and conference with President Daza, and patient and 
thorough review with the department officials at La Paz, of 
all the preceding transactions in the matter, a draft on the 
Government of Peru, for the sum of the several admitted 



246 THE COLTON CLAIM 

balances then due, was issued to Minister Reynolds, acting 
for Mr. Colton, as the draft itself expressly states ; and that 
draft, duly accepted by Peru, on the 23d of the same month, 
to be paid on the first day of March, 1878, is the identical 
document which forms the subject of this Memorial. 

The following extracts from a printed Memorial addressed 
by Mr. Colton himself to the Congress of his own country, 
about four years ago, — and which said Congress gave him a 
bill against the delinquent, as stated above, requiring pay- 
ment of the debt, — will further, though imperfectly, expose 
the shameful position of Bolivia as the author of all these 
strategical, time-killing, labor-impcsing, expense-involving,. 
ruinous and disreputable proceedings : 

" President Acha, in the course of a special Message which 
he sent to the Congress of Bolivia, on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, 1864, said : — ' The history of this business, the engraving 
and publishing of the valuable map of Bolivia, by Mr. J. H. 
Colton, a citizen of the United States, most clearly shows 
how just the claim is, and how loudly the dignity of the na- 
tion calls for its payment. I reiterate my preceding recom- 
mendation, and trust that the subject will receive the serious 
attention of Congress ; since, although the Minister of the 
United States has not given an official character to his 
request for the satisfaction of this claim, it is none the less 
the duty of the Republic to preserve its honor, which is now 
so deeply committed for its payment.' 

" President Frias, writing directly to the claimant's attor- 
ney, under date of April 17, 1873, said, but said in vain: 
' In reply to your letter of the 15th of February, I have the 
honor to assure you of the earnest desire of the Bolivian 
Government to satisfy the recognized debt in favor of Mr. 
Colton ; in virtue of which, I dare announce to you that 
payment will certainly commence to be made during the 
present year. In case there should not be at La Paz any 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 247 

direct representative of the creditor, the matter might be 
placed in the hands of the Minister of the United States." 

" Again, President Frias, addressing the Bolivian Con- 
gress under date of -the 28th of April, 1873, said, but said 
with as little effect as if he had been addressing the snow- 
capped peaks of the higher Andes: — 'Having already 
spoken of national obligations, I must not omit to speak 
also of the absolute preference given to Mr. Colton's claim, 
v>-hich comes of compromises strictly national, in virtue of 
which I have not hesitated to assure him and his attorney, 
that satisfaction of the debt shall be commenced during the 
present year ; considering this as one of our first duties 
toward the liquidation of our national obligations.' 

" Sorely chafed under the constantly increasing burden of 
these and countless other hollow and heartless assurances, 
received year after year, and at all times and seasons, until 
there was no reasonable prospect that the end of such folly 
and fraud would ever come, I felt, and still feel, the con- 
viction that patience and forbearance on my part had ceased 
to be virtues. It was with these feelings, still justly inflamed 
with the purpose expressed, — and now rather expanded and 
aggravated than otherwise, — that I was at last moved to write 
as follows to the American Minister at La Paz : — ' In the event 
that, m a last effort to obtain my rights in this case, it shall 
become necessary for me to pursue the course upon which I 
have now determined, I shall take occasion to urge upon 
the Government of my own country the very serious con- 
sideration of the question, whether a nationality that is 
either too dishonest or too poor to pa,y for its maps, is, in 
any respect, worthy of a place among the family of nations? 
Taking the negative of this question, I shall, with such 
humble ability as I possess, endeavor to prove that 
Bolivia, having, for a period of so m.any years, been either 
too dishonest or too poor to pay for her maps, is no longer 



248 THE COLTON CLAIM 

worthy of recognition as a distinct nationality. Well justi- 
fied and strongly fortified as I feel I shall be in the position 
thus assumed, I shall argue further that it is derogatory to 
the dignity of the United States to maintain a Minister, or 
even a Consul, within the limits of such a self-exhausted and 
characterless community as Bolivia ; and will further give it as 
my opinion, with reasons in detail, that all honorable nation- 
alities should at once withdraw from that unworthy country 
every system and grade of international intercourse, and not 
only permit, but effectually encourage, the speedy and com- 
])lete absorption of Bolivia by one or more of the contiguous 
Commonwealths; in other words, that Bolivia must imme- 
diately conform her conduct to a higher standard of hon- 
esty and truth and dignity, or be forever ignored and blotted 
out from the family of nations, and her territory and obliga- 
tions allowed to lapse to one or more of the abler and better 
conterminous States; to Peru, to Chili, or to the Argentine 
Republic; or to any two, or to all, of those neighboring 
nationalities.' * * * ' Lord Clarendon, for reasons more 
than sufficient, bluntly blotted Bolivicf from the diplomatic 
map of Great Britain in 1853. France, Germany, Russia, 
and all the other great governing powers of Europe, have 
likewise long since ceased to regard Bolivia as worthy of 
notice as a nation.' 

" Repeatedly and profoundly provoked to speak the truth 
against Bolivia, and believing that it would now be only a 
vice to shield her further from the odium of the accumulated 
wrongs which she has so long and so perfidiously inflicted 
on me, I claim to be fully warranted in here solemly and for- 
mally protesting that she does not seem to be affected or in- 
fluenced by any impulse of honor, incitation to duty, or sense 
of shame. Congressional acts, legislative orders, govern- 
mental decrees, presidential promises, ministerial pledges, 
diplomatic guarantees, and consular assurances, have again 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



249 



and again been given by her, with a readiness and redund- 
ance that might have been honorable, but for their uniform 
disingenuity and non-fulfihiient. Not merely has Bolivia, 
by profuse and ordinary promises, written and verbal, mis- 
led me and all my special attorneys and agents, and hood- 
winked every Minister whom the Government of the United 
States has sent to her since the year 1858, but she has also, 
during the same time, by numerous public and official dec- 
larations, and extraordinary messages, issued under the 
signatures and seals of her nationality, audaciously trifled 
Avith all our illustrious Secretaries of State, from the days of 
the Hon. Lewis Cass to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, inclusive. 
^ * * I have some litde knowledge of the language in 
which I am writing this Memorial; and it may be that, if 
put to the test, I might succeed in applying a few appro- 
priate terms to a so-called gendeman who would seek to 
evade his just obligations to a washerwoman ; but never yet 
have I seen or heard any words of ordinary usage at all ade- 
quate to the description of such varied and unending acts 
of ineffable meanness as Bolivia is guilty of in this map 
Tiiatter." 

Here bidding a somewhat formal adieu to Bolivia, and 
leaving her the heritage of such consolations as she may 
be able to find in the foregoing and following evidences of 
her unprecedented tergiversations and circumventions, per- 
mit me now, Honorable and Illustrious Senators and Repre- 
sentatives of Peru, permit me to explain to you, more mi- 
nutely than I have yet had occasion to do, the exact circum- 
:stances of Peru's connection with this case, and her present 
position in it. This task is at once easily and amply per- 
formed by submitting to you the following copies of two 
communications which I have very recently (on the dates 
given respectively at the beginning of the communications 
themselves,) had the honor of addressing to his Excellency 



250 THE COLTON CLAIM 

Senor Dr. Don Manuel Antonio Barinaga, Secretary of the 
Peruvian Treasury ; and to both of wliich I here respectfully 
and earnestly solicit your special attention : 

[copy.] 

Hotel Maury, Lima, Peru, July 5, 1878. 
To His Excellency, 

Senor Dr. Don Manuel Antonio Barinaga, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 

Sir : The Archives of the Department of Government 
over which your Excellency is now presiding will show that, 
on the first day of last March, I presented to your Excellen- 
cy's immediate predecessor, the Hon. Jose Felix Garcia, a 
regularly and legally accepted draft on the Government of 
Peru, for $19,609.40 in silver, due to my order on that date ; 
the said draft having been drawn on Peru by the Govern- 
ment of Bolivia on the 12th of October, 1876, and uncondi- 
tionally accepted by Peru on the 23d of the same month of 
the same year. 

The claim for which the amount of this draft was to have 
been considered a final sett ement, has been pending ever 
since the 21st of September, 1858 ! and in the way of ordi- 
nary and extraordinary expenses, through constantly recur- 
ing duplicities and subterfuges and stratagems on the part 
of Bolivia, it has already cost the claimant, and his several 
attorneys and agents, more than twice the sum of the origi- 
nal indebtedness. It is no exaggeration to say that the civil- 
ized world can hardy furnish another instance of such fla- 
grant injustice and injury and outrage as Bolivia has been, 
and is yet, guilty of toward her unfortimate creditor in this 
case. The amount herein due in equity by Bolivia, on the 
first day of last March, so far from being only $19,609.40 in 
silver, was $78,903.18 in gold ; yet after .she had issued the 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 2 5 I' 

draft, and long after its acceptance, but many months before 
it became due, she requested Peru not to pay it; most cun- 
ningly and perfidiously alleging that a mistake had been 
made in the final adjustment. 

To this wrong and unlawful request, Peru listened, and is 
still listening. Meanwhile the question was referred to the 
Attorney-General of Peru, the Hon. Mr. LaRosa, who gave 
a very learned and able opinion upon it, stating, in effect, tliat 
my demand for payment of the draft was perfectly just, and. 
also in strict accordance with the laws of Peru and all other 
laws of whatever country, which have ever yet been framed 
and promulgated on the general subject of acceptances. 
When my friend, Mr. Henry T. Prevost, and myself called on 
the Hon. Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Garcia, a day or 
two after the opinion of the Law Officer of the Government 
had been given, he smilingly remarked to us, immediately 
after our entrance and salutation, " I have good news for 
you this afternoon ; the Attorney-General has reported in 
your favor, and we have already notified the Bofivian Gov- 
ernment that we will pay you the money." 

Notwithstanding the admirable clearness and soundness 
of the Attorney-General's judgment; notwithstanding the 
fact that Secretary Garcia himself assured us that his pri- 
vate opinion had warmly sustained us, and that he, as an 
individual, had always entertained the fullest conviction 
that it was the duty of the Government to pay the draft ; 
and, besides, notwithstanding the prompt and emphatic ver- 
dict in my favor of every clearheaded merchant and banker, 
and of every first-class lawyer, whose views were elicited in 
this regard; yet, in the face of all these important facts, it 
was the pleasure of His Supreme Excellency President 
Prado to issue a decree which prevented me, and still pre- 
vents me, from receiving the money. 

Thereupon I made application to the Supreme Court of 



252 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



Peru, for an order which would constrain the Government to 
observe toward me the unmistakable behests of law and jus- 
tice. Because of the plainness and simplicity of the ques- 
tion involved, it was believed (by the Hon. Francisco Garcia 
Caldcron, speaking to Mr. Pedro Telmo Larranaga, and also 
by Mr. Simon Camacho, speaking to me,) that the said 
Court would probably grant an order for the payment of the 
draft in from one to ten days. Greatly to my regret, however, 
although many weeks have elapsed since my suit was placed 
on the docket of that high tribunal, no action has yet been 
taken in my behalf On the contrary, and immeasurably to 
my surprise, the said tribunal has publicly declared and pub- 
lished, that it has no jurisdiction in this affair. 

Under these circum^Lances, seeing no prospect of obtain- 
ing justice from any regularly organized Court in Peru, within 
a reasonable time, if at all, I now have the honor to inform 
your Excellency that, in the event of continued deline]uency 
up to the twentieth instant, it is my intention, immediately 
thereafter, to carry the case, in the form of an explanatory 
and historical memorial, before the very highest constitu- 
tional power in the Republic — the Honorable and Illustrious 
Congress of Peru. 

I am aware that the Peruvian Congress, as a whole, will 
not assemble in Lima until the 28th instant, but I am not dis- 
posed to wait quite so long ; having already waited here 
more than four months. The plan which I have chosen is 
to print and publish, in Spanish, several hundred copies of 
my memorial, and to address it to every Senator and Rep- 
resentative respectively, and also to many other distinguished 
and influential members of the Government, at least one 
week prior to the time of the general meeting ; so that the 
minds of all of them may be so w^ell imbued with the facts 
and merits of the case as to be prepared to act upon it at 
once, in conformity with the plainest principles of law and 
equity. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 253 

Besides, this is a matter which seems to have a special 
affinity for Congresses : it having, during the last twenty years, 
been several times in the Congress of Bolivia, and once in 
the Congress of the United States of America ; always too, 
successfully for the claimant, except only through the utter 
and unparalleled faithlessness of Bolivia, which has never 
yet proved true to any of her almost numberless govermen- 
tal and ministerial and diplomatic and consular engagements 
concerning it. 

It is proper, hovever, that I should frankly inform your 
Excellency that I have not arrived at this determination 
without carefully considering both the probable and the 
possible consequences which may result from such an unusual 
and independent method of procedure. As a citizen of the 
United States of America, I understand perfectly well that 
I owe to the Republic of Peru, as to all other Republics 
and nationalities, good thoughts, good purposes, and good 
behavior. These obligations, however, are, or at least ought 
to be, reciprocal. The Republic can find no justification 
whatever for withholding from me my rightful dues ; in sub- 
jecting me to additional burdens and hardships ; nor in 
restraining me, as an unrelieved sufferer from its own short- 
comings and defaults, within its territorial limits. 

As a plain man, encompassed with the ordinary relations 
and responsibilities incident to human nature, it is both right 
and necessary for me to insist on fair-deaUng toward myself 
and others intimately associated with me ; and especially so 
toward a very aged and long-and-much-injured client, Mr. 
Joseph H. Colton, of New York, whom I here represent. I 
owe respect and duty to Peru, and Peru owes me money and 
time and other valuable considerations, which she is now 
persistently consuming at my expense, and very greatly to 
my discomfiture and disadvantage. From this unlawful 
detriment and injury, I am now firmly resolved, in a certain 



254 THE COLTON CLAIM 

•contingency, as aforementioned, to seek redress from the 
Peruvian Congress ; believing that therein I shall be so justly 
fortunate as to find an exalted and potent tribunal that will 
exercise the highest possible jurisdiction in the premises, and, 
for its own honor and the honor of the Republic, order 
immediate payment of the said accepted and overdue draft. 

On one hand, however, it has been intimated to me that, 
because of one particular feature of my memorial, as I pro- 
pose to present it, such action on my part might lead to 
serious, if not sanguinary trouble between Peru and Bolivia ; 
and on the other hand, the opinion has been very clearly 
expressed that certain political and Congressional adver- 
.saries of His Supreme Excellency President Prado, will 
make use of the circumstance to condemn and denounce 
his action in the premis:s, as an undisguised violation of 
Pcru\ ian law and of all other laws of a like kind ; and that 
thereby, in connection with other similar charges, those ad- 
versaries will render His Supreme Excellency less easy and 
less secure in his superlative office. 

It is believed, moreover, that the peculiar and conspicu- 
ous publicity of the facts complained of in the memorial, if 
properly prepared and presented to Congress, will have an 
irresistible tendency to further weaken and destroy all con- 
fidence in Peru's most formal and solemn contracts and ob- 
hgations ; for, Avhether with Governments or with individu- 
als, no contract, no obligation, in the way of business, can 
ever be more binding or more sacred than an unconditionally 
accepted draft. Exposed to the penalties of national dis- 
credit, dishonor and disgrace thus imminent, Peru, through 
her own fault, in culpably refusing to avert the yet-sur- 
mountable evil, may have to submit to the loss, directly or 
indirectly, of scores and even hundreds of times the amount 
■of the said acceptance. Whether all or any of these opinions 
.are well founded, your Excellency's superior judgment will 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 255 

readily determhie. Yet, as for myself, I must candidly con- 
fess that the several views and apprehensions thus advanced 
have thrown me into a sort of paus^ and quandary. 

I beg therefore to be especially advisedby your Excellency 
as to any other course, any wiser or better way, which, as a 
respectlul and well-meaning stranger in Peru, — yet, at the 
same time, as one who feels that he is suffering a grievous 
and prolonged injustice at the hands of the Peruvian Gov- 
ernment itself, — I ought to pursue in this dilemma. Shall 
I and other innocent and injured persons be required to 
submit quietly to the spoliation of our rights and interests, 
our time and labor and money, in order that Peru on the 
one hand, or Bolivia on the other, or any high functionary 
in Peru or Bohvia, may enjoy immunity from official assump- 
tion and wrong doing ? Never can I willingly yield assent 
to any proposition of this sort; it being incompatible with 
rational conduct and good morals as affecting my personal 
manhood; nor will I ever, of my own accord, be held re- 
sponsible for any international or other difficulties which 
may ensue as a sequence of my earnest and straightforward 
endeavors to obtain justice openly denied or withheld. Of 
all possible responsibiHties of that kind, in this particular 
case, I hereby wash my hands quite clean, and will so keep 
them. 

If I shall be forced to the necessity of appealing to the^ 
Peruvian Congress, in the manner herein apprehended, this 
communication itself will be printed as a part of my me- 
morial. Will it not, beyond all doubt, be much better for 
the Peruvian Government to perform at once the simple act 
of good faith and probity to wRich it is, under written con- 
tract, engaged to me, and for which, on expenses, in sus- 
pense, and losing time, I have here been waiting in vain for 
the last four months, — and by so doing, wholly avoid, for it- 
self, for Bolivia, and for me, all the unknown and unwelcome 



256 THE COLTON CLAIM 

issues thus foreshadowed ? I only ask that, by or before the 
twentieth instant, Peru will, without any anomalous or en-^ 
tangling requirement, in the way of a bond or otherwise, fully 
and finally honor her acceptance to my order, due and over- 
due ever since the first day of March. Can unreserved ani 
reliable assurance be given that Peru will comply with this 
very just and very reasonable request? An affirmative 
answer to this question from his Supreme Excellency Presi- 
dent Prado, or from yourself, would be very gratifying to- 
me. 

Entertaining, from general report, the very highest confi- 
dence in your Excellency's statesmanlike wisdom and integ- 
rity, I shall await, with deep concern, your reply to this 
communication ; a copy of which will be transmitted to his 
Excellency, the Hon. Zoilo Flores, the Bolivian Minister,, 
to-morrow morning; when also, another copy of the same 
will be dispatched to the Hon. Richard Gibbs, the American 
Minister. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



[copy.] 

Hotel Maury, LL^L\, Peru, July 10, 187c. 
To His Excellency, 

The Hon. Manuel Antonio Barinaga, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 
Sir : Influenced by the suggestion of one of my country- 
men, I have the honor to assure your Excellency that the 
gentlemen who spoke to me in terms of disapprobation of 
the action of his Supreme Excellency President Prado, in. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



257 



the matter of my Bolivia-Peru accepted and overdue draft, 
were themselves good friends of his Supreme Excellency, 
and that they gave feeling expression to their regret at what 
they could but regard as a downright violation of an im- 
portant part of the Peruvian Code and of the Code of Na- 
tions. Those gentlemen plainly expressed to me their ap- 
prehension that such arbitrary administration of the laws of 
the Republic by his Supreme Excellency, would render it 
all the more difficult for them to defend him, and would only 
afford his adversaries an additional opportunity to assail 
him. What was said should, therefore, in fact, be received, 
not at all as an ill-humored threat, but only as a friendly 
suggestion or admonition. After four long months of most 
wearisome delay, I trust that the Peruvian Government will 
now fairly honor its acceptance, and so end at once all the 
future troubles apprehended in this connection. 
I ha-ve the honor to be, most respectfully. 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



Thus briefly, Illustrious Senators and Representatives of 
the Peruvian Congress, thus briefly, — in comparison with 
the reams upon reams of paper which, from first to last, 
have been consumed in writs of various kinds in this case, 
— have I the honor to explain to you how it is that Peru 
herself, through the wiles of the wrongdoer, has had the 
misfortune to be brought into very positive and indissevera- 
ble connection with a most despicable and disgraceful delin- 
quency on the part of Bolivia ; a dehnquency musty with 
time, rank with chicanery, and repulsive with turpitude. As- 
yet, it is not accurately known to what extent the political 
and financial character of Peru may be demoralized by this 

16 



258 THE COLTON CLAIM 

association with Bolivia; but it is incontrovertible that dce])- 
rooted contamination and lasting corruption, will inevitably 
follow any sort of alliance or co-partnership or business witli 
that most faithless and disorderly country. Doubtless, 
tlierefore, it is now for the honor and interest of Peru to dis- 
connect herself, as completely as possible, from her notori- 
ous neighbor, and remain quite separate and unfamiliar so 
long as that naughty neighbor continues, as at present, in an 
independent position of proneness and predilection for evil. 

The laws of Peru, as of all other enlightened and honor- 
able nationalities, are very explicit in requiring that every 
unconditionally accepted draft, when due, shall be paid o;i 
presentation, save only in cases of false signature. It is 
perfectly well known and unanimously admitted that, in this 
case, the signatures are all genuine. Why, then, does Peru 
detain me in Lima so many months, away from my family 
and friends, on expenses, in suspense, losing time,and.under 
subjection to other serious disadvantages? Whatever Peru's 
real sentiment or purpose may be, the effect of her proce- 
dure is to aid and abet Bolivia in the nefarious design of 
cheating my client out of the sum of $19,609.40 in silver, 
which is itself, howe\-er, only a fractional part of the $78,' 
903.18 in gold, which, in equity, has been overdue ever 
since the first day of last March. Although the rights of 
my client, in the matter of the accepted draft, are not openly 
denied, yet they are covertly withheld ; and both to him 
and to me the wrong is quite as indefensible and oppressive 
in the one ca^e as it would be in the other. 

Only the merest shadow of an excuse could be found for 
Peru, even if, at any time during the se\enteen months 
which elapsed between the acceptance and maturity of the 
draft, she had given any intimation whatever of her intention, 
for any reason at all, not to pay it. It is true that she could 
BOt justly nor lawfully repudiate such a sacred and unavoid- 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



259 



able obligation ; but the manifestation on her part of any 
disposition not to comply with her written agreement, might 
at least have afforded my client and myself a basis for new 
proceedings and better easement against Bolivia; and more 
especially so if the supposed manifestation of noncompliance 
had been made very soon after the acceptance. But no 
such action having ever been taken by Peru, (invalid and 
vain as such action would have been in any event,) no sign 
of exoneration, nor even color of exculpation, can now be 
reasonably offered in her behalf Under an Act of the Con- 
gress of the United States of America, the Hon. Robert M. 
Reynolds, a Minister of the United States, finally closed the 
account with Bolivia, in 1876; and our diplomatic relations 
with that shabby and shameless " Republic " were then very 
properly abolished. 

From September 21, 1858, down to the present date, 
covering a period of twenty years, lacking less than one 
month, dozens, scores and hundreds, if not thousands, of 
memorandums, propositions, agreements, accounts, compro- 
mises, notes, letters, dispatches, enactments, protests, orders, 
decrees, and other writngs, of the most diversified nomencla- 
ture ; epistolary and documentary, official and unofficial ; on 
the one hand respectful, polite and courteous, and on the 
other solemn, severe and sarcastic ; have been called into 
requisition m this affair ; and yet, through the incorrigible 
depravity of Bolivia, the claim is still unsettled ; the obliga- 
tion exists unadjusted ; the debt remains uncancelled. The 
whole amount of money equitably due on the first day of 
last March, $78,903.18 in gold, together with expenses and 
fees for time and services since addable, remains unpaid; 
and Peru's unconditionally accepted draft, for $19,609.40 in 
silver, now full six months overdue, is even yet tarnished 
with the stains of national dishonor. 

So far at least as Bolivia is concerned, the masfnitude of 



26o THE COLTON CLAIM 

the load of dissimulation and shame here accumulated is 
enough, is far more than enough, to make all the better ele- 
ments of the nation bow their heads and hide their faces in 
prafound humiliation. The guilt is overwhelming ; the igno- 
miny is fixed ; the opprobrium is indelible. Prompt payment 
of Peru's unconditionally accepted draft is required by every 
principle and rule of equity ; it is required alike by the in- 
violable essence of individual rights and by the ennobling 
urgings of international and universal rectitude ; and it is 
more specifically required by the laws of Peru herself, and 
by the statutes of every other civilized and progressive na- 
tion. For these and other weighty reasons already presented^ 
I thus again most respectfully and earnestly request an order 
or resolution for payment accordingly ; that is to say, for 
payment in fact within a stated number of days, not exceed- 
ing thirty. Deeming it unnecessary, for the present at least, 
to further elaborate or amplify arguments in this really very 
lucid affair, and hereby terminating my humble and justice- 
soliciting petition to the Honorable and Illustrious Senators 
and Representatives of the Peruvian Congress, 
I am, worthy and distinguished gentlemen. 

Your most obedient servant, 
HINTON R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER GIBBS. 

Hotel Maury, Lima, Peru, September 9, 1878. 
Hon. Richard Gibbs, Ujiited States Minister. 

Sir: After subjecting me to more than six months' un- 
justifiable delay, great expense and conscienceless incertitude 
and perplexity, the Peruvian Government has only to-day 
paid to me its unconditionally accepted draft to my order, 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 26 1 

for $19,609.40 in silver, drawn on it by Bolivia in October, 
1876, and here overdue ever since the first day of last 
March. ' Payment has been made, as usual, in badly depre- 
ciated bank bills, at a rate apparently equivalent to silver. If 
the draft had been prompdy honored when it became due, 
as it should have been, on the first day of last March, I 
would then have received, in paper, $34,512.54; and if to 
this sum, as principal, interest be added at the regular com- 
mercial rate in Peru, twelve per cent, per annum, the rate 
which I myself have had to pay for a considerable part of 
my expenses in Lima, it would swell the amount, up to the 
present date, to $36,675.29. 

The amount which I have received to-day, in consequence 
of adverse fluctuations in the currency, and without interest, 
is only $29,903.73 ; from which, not charging anything what- 
ever for my own time or labor, must be deducted my actual 
expenses for necessary voyages, lawyer's fees, hotel bills, 
etc., etc., aggregating a sum total, in paper, of $5,214.27; 
which, subtracted from the amount paid, $29,903.73, leaves 
only $24,689.46. Strong as is my provocation to indulge 
in certain comments on these significant figures, dates and 
data, I will yet forbear ; preferring, for the present at least, 
to let the simple foregoing facts speak for themselves. It is 
my purpose, however, as the attorney for Mr. Colton, after 
further consultation with him, to proceed against Bolivia at 
a convenient time in the future, for reimbursement of the 
expenses, and indemnification for the losses here and else- 
where so culpably occasioned by her, in this affair, during 
the last twenty years — lacking now only twelve days ! 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



262 



THE COLTON CLAIM 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

New York, October 31, 1878. 
Hon. Williai\i M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir : Long ill-used by the climates and the governments 
of both Bolivia and Peru, I am now sick in bed, undergoing 
a regular course of medical treatment, in the hope of a 
reasonably early restoration to good health. The annexed 
papers, consisting of a copy of my proposed Memorial to 
the Congress of Peru, under date of the 2d ultimo, and a 
copy of a communication which I addressed to the Hon. 
Richard Gibbs, the American Minister at Lima, on the 9th 
ultimo, will, for the present at least, sufficiently explain the 
peculiar points and circumstances under which the Peruvian 
Government, influenced solely by my own independent and 
positive proceedings in the premises, has been at last con- 
strained to perform the greater part of a certain national 
duty, which, eight months ago, it should have been hones: 
enough to perform cheerfully and fully and promptly without 
constraint. To the two papers thus alluded to and hereto 
annexed, I have the honor to solicit from you such attention 
as may be fidy bestowed upon them by the Hon. Secretary 
of State of the United States. 

So soon as my health and time will permit, I shall take 
occasion to draw up a true account of the balance, or sum 
total of balances, still due from Bolivia to my much-injured 
and aged client Mr. jGolton, and will thereupon again seek, 
through the Department of State at Washington, or through 
the Congress of the L^nited States, a yet nearer approxima- 
tion to justice in this affair; an old affair, now of more 
than twenty years' standing, wherein, from first to last, the 
action of Bolivia has been most shamelessly and perfidiously 
unfair and dishonorable, 

I am, sir, most respectfully, your obedient servant, 

HINTON R. HELPER. 
Approved: Joseph H. Colton. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 263 

SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Departm 
Washington, November 6, 1878. 
HiNTON Rowan Helper, ^^y^ iV^z£' York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 31st ultimo, relative to the claim 
of Joseph H. Colton against the government of BoHvia, has 
been received. It is gratifying to learn from it that the gov- 
ernment of Peru has ultimately paid the draft upon it by 
the government of Bolivia, which it had accepted, but dis- 
honDred at its maturity. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WAI. M. EVARTS, 



EX-MINISTER REYNOLDS TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington, D. C, October 23, 1878. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: You may rest assured that I was more than 
glad to receive your last letter, and to learn from it that the 
chief officials of the Peruvian Government, after having been 
driven to the wall by your proposed Memorial to the Peru- 
vian Congress, at last concluded to honor their acceptance 
of the Bolivia-Colton draft to your order, and paid it accord- 
ingly. What a pity they did not pay it six or seven months 
earher, and so save their credit ! On your final triumph in 
this haid-fought contest, where, during most of the time, 
the odds were so overwhelmingly against you, I sincerely 
congratulate both you and Mr. Colton. I had begun to en- 
tertain very serious doubts as to whether they would not 
utterly refuse to pay you, and thereby subject you and your 
client, to still another grievance of great burden. What 



264 THE COLTON CLAIM 

rendered you strong and invulnerable in your position was 
that you were entirely in the right. I feel doubly indignant 
that the Bolivian functionaries at La Paz should have volun- 
tarily imposed upon themselves the vile task of accusing me 
of having deceived and misled them in the account I pre- 
sented to them of the amount due to Mr. Colton ; and I 
shall, hereafter as heretofore, take pleasure in aiding you, 
at any time, in your efforts to recover any balance that may 
be rightfully claimed. 

Truly yours, 

R. M. REYNOLDS. 



MR. COLTON TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, November 23, 1878. 
HixTOX R. HELn-.R, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In rei)ly to your inquiries of the i6th instant, 
I have to inform you that it is quite usual for well-meaning 
and fair-dealing debtors^ throughout the State of New York, 
who find themselves unable to pay off their accumulated* 
obligations at the end of the year, to renew their notes, on 
the first day of the succeeding January, with interest added 
to the principal, as principal; so that, by this system of 
yearly renewal of running obligations, certain careless and 
slow-paying people pay interest on both principal and inter- 
est annually, as is just and proper. Bankers and other 
financiers almost invariably practice the same or a similar 
system four times per annum ; that is to say, they require a 
renewal of all obligations into one common sum at the end 
of every term of three months; and on the common sum so 
found, as principal, interest is always charged until the ex- 
piration of another period of three months, when a new 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 



265 



renewal is made ; and so on until a final extinction of the 
debt shall have been effected. 

Not, however, on this bankers' basis of quarterly reckon- 
ings, a basis of prompt adjustments and new contract? and 
obligations, but only on the general business basis of yearly 
accountings, the true balance due to me by the Government 
of Bolivia, on the first day of last March, as you yourself 
have shown, would be upward of Ninety Thousand Dol- 
lars ; and I see no reason why, in law and equity, Bolivia 
should not be held to responsibility for the entire sum so 
stated by you. Yet as I am not disposed to require pay- 
ment of the largest amount which might rightfully be de- 
manded in this case (a disposition on my part which, even 
in Peru, you seem to have understood very intelligently and 
correctly,) I approve, in preference, the smaller account 
which you have presented on the basis of calculations of 
principal and interest up to and from such times only as 
Bolivia herself, during a period of nearly twenty years, pub- 
licly and repeatedly acknowledged her indebtedness to me ; 
that is to say, the detailed account wherein you demonstrate 
that the balance due to me, on the first day of last March, 
was seventy-eight thousand nine hundred and three dollars 
and eighteen cents; and for the recovery of this balance, as 
then due, deducting therefrom the net amount since re- 
ceived, you will, at your convenience, please institute new 
proceedings against Bolivia, continuing the suit against her 
until sh,e pays the whole amount, or such part thereof as you 
may, at your own discretion, be willing to accept as a final 
compromise. 

In justice to myself, — if anything like exact justice herein 
could only once be attained, — damages to the amount of 
4iiany thousands of dollars, ought also to be charged against 
Bolivia and collected from her ; but whether it is worth while 
even to contemplate the possibility of ever obtaining from 



266 THE COLTON CLAIM 

the marvelously unstable and treacherous government of 
that country, any equitable consideration of my rights in 
this regard, — rights resulting from the flagrant and number- 
less Avron2;s which that same sfovernment has hitherto in- 
flicted on me, at divers times within the last twenty years, — 
I submit entirely to your own decision. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

JOSEPH H. COLTON. 



I\IR. HELPER TO MR. COLTON. 

St. Louis, Missouri, January 21, 1879. 
Mv Dear Mr. Colton : Since I saw you last I have been 
to Washington three times ; first, on my way to see my 
mother in North Carolina ; second, on my way back to New 
York ; and third, on my way from New York to St. Louis. 
During these several stoppings at Washington I have spoken 
with Secretary Evarts and others there in regard to the bal- 
ance of your dues from Bolivia, and am now firmly settled 
in the conviction that it will be quite useless to take any 
iurther mere diplomatic action in the premises until after a 
man of respectability, education and honor, that is to say, a 
white man, shall have been elected to the Presidency of that 
so-called R:public, which is now, as a customary condition, 
and most unfortunately, dominated by an ignorant and un- 
principled hybrid, of hazy and hateful hue, who, if I may 
write right on, without stopping to disguise or counterfeit or 
avoid the expression of a fact, is almost as destitute of 
moral sense as a hedgehog or a hound or a hyena. I am 
aware that these are plain words, — perhaps some people not 
knowing better, might consider them as harsh terms, — to use 
of the head of a nation ; but if one has more regard to 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 267 

truth than to flattery, they are not at all inapplicable to Gen- 
eral Daza, the military upstart, the usurping zambo, who, not 
unlike a negro chieftain of Hayti, or a mulatto despot of 
Santo Domingo, manages to keep his country constantly in 
a condition of wild commotion and chaotic repulsiveness and 
ruin. * * * Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MR. COLTON. 

St. Louis, Missouri, February 27, 1879. 

My Dear Mr. Colton : The inclosed copy of a note from 
Minister Pettis to myself, under date of the 24th instant, was 
received by me yesterday afternoon. If he remembers to 
notify you, as I trust he will, of his arrival in New York, on 
his way to Bolivia, please call on him, two or three times, if 
necessary, until you meet him face to face, and pleasantly 
but earnestly urge him to assist yourself and me in obtain- 
ing from the Government of Bolivia the balance still due on 
your old map-claim, of 1858 ; and explain to him, in part at 
least, — for it would be quite impossible for any mere mortal 
to explain in full, — the various shifts and subterfuges and 
countless other duplicities and dissimulations which Bolivia 
has herein so persistently practiced against you and all your 
friends and agents and attorneys, and also against numerous 
Secretaries of State and Ministers and Consuls of the United 
States, during the last twenty years ; requesting him at the 
same time to be good enough to hold himself in readiness 
to act energetically in the premises so soon as I shall have 
gathered together and properly re-arranged all the papers in 
the case for submission to him as the new United States 
Minister at La Paz. 

At any time, after the ill-advised and most violent and 



268 THE COLTON CLAIM 

sanguinary fashion of several of the Andean nationalitie? — 
no one knows how soon, — the dusky and double-deaUng 
Daza, drivellingly drunk and dissokite, may be dazed by a 
dagger, or a dart, or a drug, and suddenly disappear forever 
from the dreadful scenes of his detestable debaucheries and 
other misdeeds ; and if, by rarity of occurrence, he should 
be succeeded by a ruler of the Aryan race, the distance be- 
tween you and ultimate justice from Bolivia may be greatly 
lessened ; for, with as much exactness and regularity as 
clock-work, the few white men who have had any influence 
at La Paz, since 1858, have invariably tried, in honor and 
good faith, to satisfy your rightful demands; but the over- 
powering majority of negroes and Indians and bi-colored 
hybrids have as invariably turned their backs u[)on you, 
chuckled in their sleeves at your helplessness and mis- 
fortunes, and unscrupulously used the vilest artifices and the 
lowest tricks to foil and defeat you and all your agents and 
attorneys in every effort that has been made to effect a 
proper redress of your time-worn grievance. 

I have now an application before the Foreign Relations 
Committee of the Senate at Washington for copies of cer- 
tain original documents and dispatches, which, at my in- 
stance, as your attorney, were filed in their Committee 
room, in the Capitol, in i873-'74; and so soon as may be 
convenient after transcripts of those vouchers shall have 
come into my hands, I shall proceed to make up the 
whole case anew, and will carry it back into the Congress of 
the United States, or act otherwise, as I may hereafter elect. 
So many years of wearisome and perilous and expensive and 
ill-recompensed labor on a claim so very plain and equitable, 
has only served to inflame me with a fuller and firmer de- 
termination to abate no reasonable effort until a nearer ap- 
proximation to justice shall be attained in this aff"air. 

Yours faithfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 269 

MR. HELPER TO SENATOR HAMLIN. 

St. Louis, Missouri, February 24, 1879. 
Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, 

CJiairma7i of the Senate Committee, 

on Foreign Affairs, Washington. 

Dear Sir: On the i8th of May, 1874, as you may 
remember, I had the honor of addressmg to the illustrious 
Committee of which you were then a member, and of which 
you are now Chairman, a comniunication inclosing a large 
number of original documents touching the claim of Mr. 
Joseph H. Colton, of New York, against the Government of 
Bolivia, and of which communication the following is a 
copy : * * * 

Li 1875, both the Senate and the House of Representa- 
tives acted favorably in this case, passing a bill directing the 
President of the United States to call on the Government of 
Bolivia to pay the money which it itself had so long and so 
often admitted to be due. After paying, in eight widely 
separated installments, the greater part of the amount 
finally and mutually agreed upon by way of additional 
compromises and diminutions to the still further disad- 
vantage of Mr. Colton, Bolivia has again defaulted, hav- 
ing failed to make full payment of the ninth and last install- 
ment; and, in the hope of ultimately obtaining redress for 
my client, I am now desirous of making a new and com- 
plete presentation of the claim to our recently commissioned 
Minister Resident at La Paz. Yet this task I cannot per- 
form without access to the original papers, or copies of 
them ; and therefore, — coming at once to the object of thus 
addressing you, — I beg to be informed whether those papers 
are now on file in your Committee room, or elsewhere in 
Washington, and also whether I myself, or a delegated friend, 
or your own clerk, acting on my specification and request, 



270 THE COLTON CLAIM 



m 



ay be permitted to transcribe tlie particular decuments 
necessary for consummating the purpose explained above. 
Trusting that you will be kind enough to favor me with an 
early reply, 

I have the honor to be, most n spectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
H. R. HELPER. 



. SENATOR HAMLIN TO MR. HELPER. 

Senate Chamber, 
Washington, T^^/^r/^^ry 26, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Es^., 5/. Zouis, Missouri. 

Dear Sir: I have your letter of the 24th instant. The 
papers to which you refer in your letter are on the files of 
the Senate ; and I have this day obtained authority from 
the Senate allowing Mr. Colton to withdraw them. You can 
obtain the papers on application to the Secretary of the 
Senate. 

Respectfully yours, 

H. HAMLIN. 



Finally, Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives of the Congress of the United States of America, 
your petitioner, moved herein, at this last moment, by the 
special request of his attorney, Mr. H. R. Helper, has the 
honor to pray that, for the remainder of the present year, 
1879, and during the first eleven 'months of the succeeding 
year, 1880 ; you will be good enough passively to treasure 
up in your minds all the foregoing facts relating to his just 



AGAINST BOLIVIA. 27 I 

claim for a balance of many thousand dollars still due to 
him on an old account against the Government of Bolivia, 
and also .for heavy damages equitably due to him from both 
Bolivia and Peru, in a sum not yet definitely fixed ; and so 
be prepared to act again in his behalf on, or immediately 
after, the first Monday in December of next year, 1880; 
provided he shall then specifically solicit such further action 
from your honorable body ; the reasons for thus requesting 
you to refrain, for a time, from the exercise of your potent 
legislative functions, being reasons of grave national and 
international import, affecting especially a contemplated 
total subversion of the form of government of a jesuitically 
scheming and grasping and over-ambitious Empire, which 
is now the most insidious and deleterious adversary of all 
the Republics of South America ; and also affecting very 
materially certain essential interests and considerations con- 
nected with a vast intercontinental railway-enterprise, in 
which my said attorney and other citizens of the United 
States are, as he has informed me, about to embark. Thus 
respectfully and earnestly entreating the attention and action 
of the dignified and renowned Senators and Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
your petitioner has the honor to subscribe himself, 
With sincere and profound esteem. 

Your most obedient servant, 
JOSEPH H. COLTON, Claimant. 
By his Attorney^ 

HiNTON R. Helper. 



St. Louis, Missouri, 
September 23, 1879. 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



17 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER WHITE. 

New York, August i, 1872. 
Hon. Julius White, Chicago, Illinois. 

Dear Sir : Perceiving by the newspapers that you have 
"been appointed Minister Resident of the United States to 
the Argentine Repubhc, and regarding it as probable that 
you will accept the office, and soon be in New York, on your 
way to Buenos Ayres,I take the hberty to suggest that, even 
at so early a day as this after your appointment, it may not 
be too soon for you to begin to consider whether you may 
not, in your official capacity, be able to promote, in a some- 
Avhat special and important manner, the general interests of 
both countries. 

Suppose, for instance, that you should, for a time at least, 
concentrate your attention and energies upon a single sub- 
ject, the establishment of semi-monthly steam communica- 
tion between New York, or some other American port, and 
one or two of the principal cities of the River Plate ? That, 
I beheve, is an object well worth striving for; and if you 
were to take it up earnestly and succeed in it, it would, I 
doubt not, ultimately be of immense value to our commer- 
cial and manufacturing interests. It would also be generallv 
and justly esteemed a great triumph for yourself. Of course 
I do not mean to say thac you should do anything in a pri- 
vate or business way, but only that, in your official relations 
with both the American and Argentine governments, you 
might inform yourself so thoroughly of the actual and pros- 

275 



276 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

pective condition of things between the two countries as to 
induce, with the assistance of certain reasonable and neces- 
sary subsidies from each, the permanent estabHshment of . 
safe and speedy steam communication between the United 
States and the River Plate. At first, and for several years 
perhaps, the unavoidable expenditures for such a service 
would probably be very greatly in excess of the receipts ; 
but, all things considered, there need scarcely be entertained 
an intelligent doubt that the enterprise would pay handsome- 
ly in the end. 

There is already established a monthly line of American 
steamers from New York to Rio de Janeiro ; and I think it 
not unlikely that this same line, which, as I hear, is in the 
hands of financially strong men, might, by fair dealing with 
the owners, be extended, as a semi-monthly line to Monte- 
video and Bu'^nos Ayres. In this way, as Americans, we 
might lay the foundation for far more extensive and profia- 
ble business relations with the east coast of South America 
than we can ever possibly attain under the irregular and 
meagre arrangements now existing for intercourse with the 
several countries along that coast. When I occupied the posi- 
tion of American Consul at Buenos Ayres, from 1862 to 1866, 
I had the honor of earnestly recommending to Secretary Sew- 
ard the imp ,)rtance of steam communication between the 
United States and Brazil; and I flatter myself that I may 
thereby have contributed, in some measure, to the estabHsh- 
ment of the line of steamers to Rio de Janeiro. 
' I am very decidedly of the opinion, moreover, that it is 
high time for us to begin to seek greater facilities for steam 
communication, by means of an interoceanic canal through 
some part of Central America, — say the Isthmus of Darien^ 
the Isthmus of Nicaragua, or the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
— with the various repubUcs which border on the west coast 
of South America. Having recently crossed the continent 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



277 



of South America, from Buenos Ayers to Lima, I noticed, 
all along the route, that almost every article of merchandise 
on sale in the stores, was of British or other European man- 
ufacture ; and not only so, but the thousand and one 
things so imported, had, for the most part, been brought to 
the east or west coast in British bottoms ; and in this way 
the manufacturing, shipping and general commercial inter- 
ests of Great Britain have already secured such a firm foot- 
hold throughout that vast section of the New World, that 
it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to weaken or dis- 
place it. But considering our contiguity to the South 
Americans, and our natural sympathy with their kindred 
forms of government, we ought certainly to have a liberal 
share, if not a lion's share, in the great benefits of ordinary 
trade and intercourse with so large a number of our en- 
lightened fellowmen, and not apathetically yield such im- 
portant advantages to far-distant and uncongenial Europeans, 
whose monarchical views and purposes are always more or 
less antagonistic to republican institutions. 

On the leading subject thus mentioned, if you are inter- 
ested in it, you may do well to procure, at the Department 
of State in Washington, a brief but very valuable report on 
our commercial relations with the Spanish-American States, 
made by the Hon. Hamilton Fish himself, Secretarv of 
State, in 1870; and also the large volume upon our Com- 
mercial Relations in general, for the same year. And, 
finally, trusting that you will kindly pardon me for writino- 
you this long letter, if you will inform me when you expect 
to be in New York, I shall hope to have the pleasure of see- 
ing you here, and of conversing with you on matters con- 
nected with these suggestions. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



278 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY THOMPSON. 

SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICAN TRADE WITH THE UNITED 
STATES. ■ 
(From the South Pacific Times, Callao, Peru.) 
Our enterprising and progressive neighbors of North America, always 
having an eye to new avenues of business, seem to have fixed their at- 
tention upon both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America 
with a zeal and thoroughness especially characteristic of the citizens of 
the Model Republic. The grand and colossal achievements of the 
United States in agriculture, stock raising, mining, railway consuuc- 
tion and other material industries, as also in new inventions and dis- 
coveries, in science, in literature, and in the fine arts, are now patent 
to all the world ; and what those States are yet destined to accomplish in 
manufactures and commerce, will probably soon surprise, and may pos- 
sibly astonish, their friendly rivals on the other side of the Atlantic. 
In the intelligence brought by the steamer of last week, not the least 
significant item is the assurance, all the way from the Palace of the 
Universal Exhibition in Paris, that "The United States will get a large 
proportion of the grand prizes and gold medals." 

We have recently published several communications advocating 
closer commercial intercourse between the two continents, and now we 
place before our reader^ a lengthy letter on the subject from Mr. Hin- 
ton Rowan Helper, an American author and traveler, who became 
famous, just before the war of the great rebellion in the United States, 
for the peculiar and forcible combination of anti-negro and anti-slavery 
views advanced in his work entitled The Impending Crisis of the 
South. Mr. Helper we learn has twice crossed the continent of South 
America by different routes, and he appears to have been a careful ob- 
server of many things. His letter, as will be seen, is addressed to the 
Hon. Mr. Thompson, a member of the Cabinet of President Hayes; 
and the points he makes in connection with the navy of his country, 
and what he says in favor of New Orleans and the proposed ship 
canal across the Isthmus of Darien, will doubtless be read and pondered 
with lively interest. 

Lima, Peru, February 22, 1878. 
Hon. Richard W. Thompson, 

Secretary of the Navy , Washington, 
Sir: Though far away from home, and yet but little be- 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 2791 

yond the middle of a long journey by sea and land still 
before me, so much pleased am I with both the letter and 
spirit of your Annual Report to the President in December 
last, which, however, I have only now been able to obtain 
and read, that I beg the privilege of specifying at least two 
or three of the passages which have impressed me as being 
filled with suggestions of the very greatest importance to 
our future national welfare. Especially do I refer to those 
passages wherein you hint, and well and wisely hint, at the 
necessity for a better adjustment of relationship and inter- 
action between our Navy of Force and our Navy of Freight ; 
between our men-of-war and our fleet of unarmed vessels 
engaged in the merchant service. In this regard, as it 
seems to me, our one great need at this time is more clip- 
pers and crafts for commerce, and fewer frigates for fighting ; 
more useful industry and trade and traffic, and less wasteful 
indolence and extravagance and ostentation. 

Only a few days have elapsed since my arrival here from 
Brazil and the Argentine RepubHc, on the east side of South 
America; I having for the second time, (first in i8ji-j2, 
and now again in iSyy-'yS,) come overland, across the Con- 
tinent, most of the way on mule-back, 'with servant and 
sumpter-mules, carrying my bed and baggage, and .jften 
water and provisions wdth me. During these two trips over 
the Pampas and over the Andes, over the Llanos and over 
the Cordilleras, by different routes, the first through the up- 
per provinces of the Argentine Republic, through Bolivia 
and Peru, and the second in almost a straight line west- 
wardly from Buenos Ayres, near the River Plate and the 
Atlantic Ocean, to Valparaiso on the Pacific coast, I have 
been everywhere kindly received and welcomed, not because 
I was Mr. Helper, but because I was an American citizen, 
a plain and siniple child of the Great Republic. Yet it 
always grieved me exceedingly, and was particularly offen- 



28o MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

sive to my sense of the fitness of things, to find almost 
everything in the way of foreign merchandise, throughout 
the length and breadth of my routes of travel, of European 
manufacture. 

At different ports along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in 
many cities of the plains, in various towns on the mountain 
slopes, on the apex of Potosi, and on the tops of other 
Andean peaks higher than Mount Hood, I have gone into 
stores and warehouses, and looked around in vain, utterly in 
vain, for one single article of American manufacture. From 
the little pin with which the lady fastens her beau-catching 
ribbons to the grand piano with which she enlivehs and 
enchants the hearts of all her household ; from the tiniest 
thread and tack and tool needed in the mechanic arts, to 
the largest plows and harrows and other agricultural imple- 
ments and machines required for use on the farm — all these 
and other things, the wares and fabrics and light groceries 
and delicacies in common demand, the drugs and chemi- 
cals sold by the apothecary, the fermented and malt and 
spirituous liquors in the wine saloon, the stationery and fancy 
goods in the bookstore, the furniture in the parlor, and the 
utensils in the kitchen, are with very rare exceptions of Eng- 
lish, French, German, Spanish or Italian manufacture. And 
what makes the matter still more unsatisfactory and vexa- 
tious to the North American, and more expensive and other- 
wise disadvantageous to the South American, is that these 
articles are, as a general rule, inferior, both in material and 
make, to the corresponding articles of American manufac. 
ture. In form, in style, in finish, most articles of American 
manufacture are really far supeiior to the corresponding 
European articles, which are generally ill-proportioned? 
heavy, and clumsy. Yet the American articles, so much 
more elegant, so much better adapted to the special uses 
for which they are intended, might be sold here with fair 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 28 1 

profits, at even less prices than the purchasers now have to 
pay for those they obtain from the old country. It is, per- 
haps, not' too much to say that our improvements over the 
handcraft of the Old World have only been in thoughtful 
harmony and keeping with our improvements over the anti- 
quated and absurd systems of government and religion 
which still hamper and oppress all the peoples of the East- 
ern hemisphere. 

Now arises the question, What methods ought we to pur- 
sue for the mutual advantage of the inhabitants of both 
North and South America, in order to introduce success- 
fully, and as soon as possible, our manufactures into this 
great and constantly increasing field of demand and con- 
sumption ? That is the important question. How and 
when shall we begin ? We ought to have begun long ago. 
Duty alike to ourselves and to our neighbors ought to have 
prompted us to governmental effort in this undertaking at 
least as early as the middle of the present century. Delay 
has already largely cost us, and is still more largely costing 
us, prestige and profit and power. We should go to work 
at once, and in solemn earnest, determined to succeed, 
even to the extent of making up in some degree for the long 
time already lost. Not another day should be allowed to 
•elapse unimproved. From our Navy Department, directly 
and actively, or indirecdy and passively, as it seems to me, 
should issue the first necessary and practical impulse. Our 
people, right meaning and trustful, but more or less short- 
sighted, like other people, and not knowing perfectly well 
their own interests in all respects, are willing to pay eighteen 
millions of dollars per annum for the expense of a navy. 
That is more, much more in my opinion, than we ought to 
spend for a navy in times of peace. Thirty-eight first-rate 
war ships for service at sea, and the same number of well 
constructed cutters for river and harbor service — one of each 



282 MISCELLANEOUS ODDIMENTS. 

class for each State and State capital in our Union, and so- 
named resi)ectively — would, as I think, constitute all the 
floating force we require in ordinary periods; and the entire 
cost of such a force, being once provided, ought certainly 
not to exceed ten millions per annum. Does not this sug- 
gestion present an opportunity for judicious retrenchment 
and reform? — and can you not put it into practice, and; 
thereby save to the country annually eight millions of dol- 
lars? And then, because of your having thus lightened the 
burdens of our patriotic taxpayers in the sum of eight mil- 
lions a year, may you not, in the further interest of those 
same taxpayers, (for eventually it will be very greatly in 
their interest), induce Congress to grant a subsidy of twO' 
millions or more a year for the establishment and perma- 
nent maintenance of a line, a large line, a long line, of first- 
class steamers, to run from New Orleans, twice a month or 
oftener, to all the ports of Mexico and Central and Southi 
America, both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts? 

Do that, Mr. Secretary of the Navy, do it at once, do it 
bravely, do it successfully, and you will thereby readily solve 
one of the most important problems to which you yourself 
have alluded in your admirable report. In the interest of 
the industrious and dextrous labor of our country, you will 
have found fields of almost illimitable dimensions, and of 
ever increasing demand, for our surplus products and manu- 
factures ; and in that finding you will have proved yourself, 
beyond all doubt, the most useful and profitable Secretary 
of the Navy we have ever yet had. 

Under proper guarantees, and with a potent governmen- 
tal voice in the management of the affairs of the company, 
a subsidy — considering the old and strong and tenacious 
hold which Europe already has on the trade of this conti- 
nent — a subsidy of at least two millions a year should be- 
granted for a term, to start with, of not less than fifteen. 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 285 

years, or until a ship canal shall be cut through Nicaragua,, -^ 
or across Tehuantepec, or Darien ; but for every million thus 
spent, froin two to five millions ought to be gained, and 
under an energetic and prudent administration of the busi- 
ness of the company, that much, or more probably would 
be gained as an accretion to the general wealth of the 
country. Here, however, it may be proper for me to assure 
you, as I do with all sincerity and truth, that, so far from 
being myself pecuniarily interested in any enterprise of this [^^^ 
sort, I have nevcT had a business word with any one on the 
subject. In this respect I really have no more at stake nor in 
prospect than yourself, or President Hayes, or any other gen- 
tleman who is wholly disconnected from mercantile pursuits. 
It is only because, having two eyes, and having seen so 
repeatedly and extensively, during my two crossings of this 
continent, the great requirements and opportunities of 
American commerce, in the southern hemisphere, that I have 
given myself the liberty of addressing you in this manner. 
Another point. You will have observed that I have men- 
tioned New Orleans as the port in the United States from 
which our ships under governmental patronage should sail 
to Mexico and Central and South America, and to which they 
should return with their cargoes of far-south products. All 
the maps and lands and winds and waters of the New 
World, not less obviously than animated common sense,, 
are equally emphatic in suggesting New Orleans as the only 
convenient and proper port, the only natural and auspicious 
port, for the concentration of our trade with these many 
vast countries, every one of which lies south of the mouth 
of the Mississippi river. Besides, for pleasure-seekers and 
other passengers, and also for the mails and for freight from 
all these southern cUmes, New Orleans is, by sea, from 
twelve to fifteen hundred miles nearer than any one of the 
great cities of the North. Moreover, by going directly to 



284 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS 

New Orleans, and thence by railroad or by steamboat to 
other places, as may be desirable, both time and pleasant 
changes of situation will be gained, and the ever-stormy 
and fatal regions of Cape Hatteras, that howling and harm- 
ful headland of horrors, the Carolina haunt of Charybdis 
and Scylla, will be shunned. Furthermore, the climate of 
all our Northern cities, as I am well aware from the woeful 
experience of several personal friends, on various occasions, 
is much too rigorous, much too perilous, for visitors and 
other passengers from the tropics in the winter season; 
especially is it so for those who may have been born and 
reared within the tropics ; and they will prudently, for their 
lives' sakes, remain away from our country altogether, rather 
t'.ian enter it on the Atlantic coast north of Pamlico sound, 
between November and March inclusive. 

It is alike due to the Great West, the South, the North, 
and the East — it is preeminently due to the United States as 
a who e — that the marvelously favorable geographical posi- 
tion of New Orleans for the concentration in North America 
of our trade with the Southern hemisphere, should be at 
once recognized and acted upon with good faith, and with 
unyielding vigor and perseverance. Being so far behind as 
we are now in the matter of this commercial and manufac- 
turing outloo'<, any further failure on our part to avail ourselves 
of the wonderful flicilities which Nature so freely and conspic- 
uously offers us, would only be a most culpable continuance 
of the stupid and discreditable indifference which we, as a 
contiguous nation of more than forty millions of inhabitants, 
have thus far strangely manifested toward South and Central 
America. The large commercial cities of the North have 
now, and will always retain, the trade of the greater part of 
the Northern hemisphere, and much also of the Southern; 
but our Government should not favor those cities exclu- 
sively, and, as if both blind and deaf to the unmistakable 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 285 

indications of nature, neglect all the cities of the West and 
South; for there is much danger that such favor on the one 
side, and -neglect on the other, carried to excess, might ren- 
der the country topheavy and unsteady. 

The remarkable wisdom and liberality of Jittle England 
(only a fraction larger than North Carolina, and considerably 
less than Missouri,) in dividing her commercial favors 
between London, Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Southamp- 
ton, and many of her other ports, in divers sections 
of her cost — not to speak of Swansea or Cardiff in 
Wales, of Dublin or Cork in Ireland, or of Glasgow or Dun- 
dee in Scotland — may very well serve as an excellent exam- 
ple, and as a poHcy of great prudence, eminently fit and 
profitable for us to follow. That is the way for nationalities 
to be truly national within themselves, and not sectional. 
Cincinnati, Indianopolis, Chicago, Saint Louis, Louisville, 
Minneapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, and many other 
great and growing cities of the West, can find a cheap outlet 
and lucrative market for the immense surplus products of their 
manufactories and slaughter-houses and granaries and tan- 
neries and brewries, only through the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi river, near which, at New Orleans, an extraordinary 
amount of exchanges and transhipments will always need 
to be made. The sooner we accept the simple truths of 
these facts in nature, the sooner we establish a line of first- 
class ocean steamers to run regularly all along both coasts 
of Mexico and Central and South America,, and the sooner 
we cut, or aid in cutting, a commodious ship canal through 
Tehuantepec, or Nicaragua, or across the Isthmus of Darien, 
the sooner we will become in reality the grand and glorious 
repubHc of which our wisest and best statesmen have often 
dreamed, and dreamed longingly, with their eyes wide open. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

H. i. HELPER. 



2S6 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY THOMPSON. 

Lima, Peru, /n/y lo, 1878. 
Hon. Richard W. Thompson, 

Secretary of the Navy, Washington. 
Sir : Unexpectedly long detention in Lima, on a matter 
of business connected with the Government of Peru, has pre- 
vented me from calling on you at Washington, as I had hoped 
to be able to do before this time, with the object of explaining 
to you, verbally, the nature of certain very gross abuses in 
our foreign Naval Service ; which abuses have incidentally 
come to my knowledge, both here ai)d at Rio de Janeiro in 
Brazil. You will remember my postscript allusion to this 
subject in a somewhat elaborate communication which, in 
February last, I had the honor of addressing to you in ad- 
vocacy of more intimate and extensive commercial relations 
between the United States and Central and South America. 
The extravagance and waste, and the evidences of cupidity 
and corruption, which came under my observation at Rio de 
Janeiro, whilst I was there, during a period of five months 
last year, and similar proofs of like prodigalities and pecula- 
tions in connection with our Naval Station at Callao, which 
have been casually brought before me at Lima, during a res- 
i Jence of more than five months in Peru this year, constitute 
the bases of the complaints which I now desire to submit for 
} our patriotic consideration and action. Only I must here 
inform you, that it would be much more agreeable for me 
to make my complaints to you in conversation, rather than 
in writing ; as, what I wish to say being entirely unofficial 
and voluntary on my part, I do not at all relish the idea of 
having to incur denunciation or ill-will on account of any 
seeming officiousness as a formal reporter of facts implicat- 
ing American Naval Officers, of whatever grade, in practices 
wholly at variance with the conduct of gentlemen. 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 287 

Restrained by this feeling of reluctance to become an em- 
phatic accuser and protester, I have remained silent until 
the present time ; and it may be that I should have contin- 
ued uncommunicative until my return to the United States, 
had it not been for the seasonable incitements hereto, which, 
as general news in the pubhc journals, have just come to me 
in the form of a Report from the Com.mittee on Expendi- 
tures of the Navy Department, made to the House of Rep- 
resentatives at Washington, only a few weeks since. From 
that Report, carrying with it the weight of official investiga- 
tion, and relieving me from a great part of the task w^hich I 
had felt it proper to impose on myself as a future labor to be 
performed w-hen convenient and face to face, I make the fol- 
lowing extract from an abstract which I have seen in several 
American newspapers received in Lima by the last mail from 
Panama : 

" The Committee on Naval Expenditures say that extrava- 
gance and a disregard of legal restraints have been recog- 
nized at almost every step of their inquiry and previous to 
the beginning of the present administration of the Depart- 
ment. At the outset they were staggered at the im- 
mense amounts apparently owing by the several bureaus, 
Teaching the sum of more than $7,000,000; and this, 
too, notwithstanding the enormous appropriations made an- 
nually from 1869 to 1876, both inclusive, aggregating in 
amount $149,000,000. There is nothing to compensate 
this vast outlay save a Navy contemptible even in compari- 
son with those of third and fourth rate powers. Notwith- 
standing the plain terms of law, open purchases have been 
the chief mode by which the Navy Department has been 
supplied w4th materials, not in obedience to actual expedi- 
ency or necessity, but vastly in excess of its means. This 
violation of law, w^ithout warrant of precedent or authority, 
has depleted the Treasury to the extent of milHons of dol- 



288 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

lars, and has been the food upon which pa mpered favorites 
have fattened, while it has prevented the payment of 
moneys due a meritorious class of creditors to such an extent 
that many have been involved in bankruptcy, and all of them 
subjected to irreparable loss. The amount of open pur- 
chases and bureau orders within the last few years aggre- 
gate more than $20,000,000. All the advantages of deal- 
ing with rivals in the markets have been ignored, fair com- 
petition avoided, and both the letter and spirit of the law 
disregarded." 

Taking it for granted that a man ought always to be jus- 
tified and defended in telling the truth, and that he should 
invariably dare to tell it whenever he finds any great right or 
principle violated in consequence of its suppression, yet 
I confess that, in view of the foregoing Report within reach 
as a voucher, it is now a much easier matter for me to write 
exactly what I have seen and learned at Rio de Janeiro and 
Callao, than it was prior to the time of the publication of 
the results of the Naval Committee's investigation. 

What I wish to mention distinctly, and what I here desire 
to protest against as a condition of things both disgraceful and 
ruinous to a world-wide branch of the public service, is the 
immeiise quantity of needless and expensive Naval Stores 
kept in warehouses and hulks at the two stations named, 
(and doubdess at others also,) and which said stores, to the 
amount ot many hundreds of thousands of dollars, are 
already, for the most part, so rusty or rotten, so corroded or 
mouldy, so stale or sour, so wormy or moth-eaten, or other- 
wise so badly damaged, that they are now almost valueless, 
and will soon have to be sold for the merest nominal sum, 
or thrown away altogether, under a summary and sweeping 
condemnation. 

It would be exceedingly inconvenient and tiresome to 
enumerate even a tenth part of the vast agglomeration of 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



289 



things, bulky and weighty and of all sorts and sizes on the 
one hand, and small and light and of all shapes and colors 
on the other, which I saw either entirely spoilt or rapidly 
spoiling at Rio de Janeiro, where, according to my estimate, 
the total loss to the Government of the United States, 
arising alone from the natural waste and destruction of 
superfluous articles there warehoused at the particular time 
of which I speak, will amount to nearly if not quite, half 
a million of dollars. But this is not all, nor is it the worst, 
if my information be correct. It seems that an enormous 
excess of stores has hitherto, for many years past, been 
regularly sent out by a class of special Navy Agents in the 
United States, who, devoid of honor and patriotism, are in- 
terested only in receiving a stipulated commission on the 
gross amount of all purchases made by them ; and that they 
resort to every conceivable device to ship away as many 
goods at as high prices as possible, no matter whether or 
not there exists, or ever will exist, any real or prospective 
necessity for them ! 

Under these corrupt and shameful practices, our Navy, 
such as it is, and with Httle or nothing to do, has cost us, on 
an average, during the whole of the two presidential terms 
of Gen. Grant, nearly nineteen millions of dollars per an- 
num. Just think of it ! One hundred and forty-nine mil- 
Uons of dollars in only eight years, — and yet, where is the' 
good, where is the worth, of half the money ? Rather than 
continue to maintain the American Navy after this fashion, 
it would, I am incUned to beHeve, be better to abolish it 
altogether. To say the least, a few millions of dollars an- 
nually curtailed from our little-laboring and scarcely-neces- 
sary navy, and prudently spent in fostering a iirst-rate steam 
commercial service to and from various foreign countries, 
particularly Central and South America, would, as it appears 
to me, be a far more judicious expenditure of a portion of 

18 



290 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



our appropriable revenues; and more especially so inasmuch 
ns all the steamers for freight and passengers might, under 
proper governmental subsidy and supervision, be so con- 
structed as to be easily convertible into formidable war-ships 
in case of need. Less, therefore, of an idle and profligate 
Navv, and more of a usefully-busy and honestly-managed 
Commercial Marine, would seem to be in the line of bene- 
ficial refornis which should at once receive our most earnest 
and steadfast attention. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Ll\l\, Peru, July 26, 1878. 
Hon. Willlvm M. Evarts, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir: I have already had the honor to inform you, on 
more than one occasion, that I do not like to be the recipi- 
ent of favors, from any source whatever, without being per- 
mitted to give back something in the nature of an equiva- 
lent in return. In the long course of my delicate and diffi- 
cult dealings with certain distressingly dilatory and delinquent 
Governments in South America, I have frequently found it 
necessary, as a means of securing even a shadow of justice, to 
trouble you, as Secretary of State of the United States, for 
various points of information in diplomacy, which you have 
always kindly and frankly imparted, whenever you could do 
so in clear conformity with the code of international law. 
Recognizing these official and semi-official favors, and desir- 
ing to reciprocate them in some measure, however inade- 
.quately, I now have the pleasure of submitting for your 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



291 



enlightened and statesmanlike consideration, the inclosed 
copy of a communication which, written solely with a view 
of promoting the public interest, I addressed under date of 
the loth instant, to the Hon. Richard W. Thompson, Sec- 
retary of the Navy; the said communication, as you will 
observe, being a sort of sequel to a somewhat similar com- 
munication vv'hich I dispatched to the same distinguished 
Secretary, and also, in copy, to yourself, several months 
since. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARY HUNTER TO MR.HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, April 19, 1878. 
HiNTON R. Helper, Esq,, New York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 26th ultimo, from Lima, Peru, 
has been received, and the instructive one which you 
addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, a copy of which 
you have kindly appended to the former, has been read with 
much interest. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. HUNTER. 



MR. HELPER TO SENATOR MERRIMON. 

Dakar, (near Goree,) Africa., 
June 29, 1877. 
Hon. Augustus S. Merrimon, Washingto?i, D. C, 

Dear Sir: On my way from Bordeaux in France, to 



292 MISCELLANEOUS ODDINIENTS. 

Rio de Janerio in Brazil, where I have business with the 
Government of His Imperial Majesty Dom Pedro II, with 
whom, after correspondence, I recently had the honor of 
an interview at the Grand Hotel in Paris, the steamer on 
which I took passage has stopped here, at Dakar, a French 
settlement in Senegambia ; and this stoppage affords me 
the pleasant pastime of thus communicating to you my 
compliments from Negroland ; a land, albeit, of barbarous 
blackness and abomination, from which and to which few 
emblems or evidences of civilized life have ever yet passed ; 
and these only, at any time, through the persons or agencies 
of white strangers from other countries, or through their 
descendants ; never once in the past, nor possibly in the 
future, through the persons or agencies of the repulsively 
sable and soulless savages who are autochthonous to the soil. 
Of the mother country and the honorable ancestry of 
your eight hundred thousand white constituents in North 
Carolina, you know a great deal ; but of the original habitat 
and djspicable pedigree of your three hundred thousand 
black supernumeraries in the same State, you, yes, even you, 
a learned and upright judge in matters of law and equity, 
and an able and distinguished Senator of the United States, 
know comparatively but very little. * Every white man who 



* Since this letter was written, Judge Merrimon, through the whim- 
sical an, I mysterious maneuvering of political caucuses at Raleigh, has 
ceased to be a Senator of the United States ; but the conspicuously 
elevated and honorable position which he has already won in the coun- 
cils of the nation has not ceased to attract and hold fast the heart-felt 
attention of his compatriots ; and it is by no means improbable that his 
sterhng character and abihty, as a liberal and enlightened legislator, 
may soon again be called into requisition. North Carolina would but 
certainly secure and advance her own best interests by making him her 
Governor ; and the United States at large have not unfrequently chosen, 
as their highest exemplars, for a term of four years or more, men of 
far less worth and wisdom to walk and work in the ways of Washington^ 

H. R. H. 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



293 



emigrated from Europe to America emigrated voluntarily, 
impelled in his westward movements by certain v/ell-settled 
aims and objects which looked to the general betterment of 
himself and family ; he also took with himself, besides the 
inalienable mastership of his own manhood, a name, a suit 
of clothes, a knowledge of letters, genius, courage, self- 
respect, tools, implements, utensils, and skill in all the great 
arts and industries of civilization. 

On the other hand, every negro who went from Africa to 
America, went there involuntarily, doltishly and doggishly ; 
he went as a reality of opprobrium, penury and wretchedness ; 
he went nameless, shirtless and naked; he went ignorant, 
indolent and incompetent; he went unapt, undextrous and 
unaspiring in everything; he went senseless of all energy 
and enterprise, being apathetic and sluggish in both muscle 
and mind ; he went as a captive and craven creature, abso- 
lutely averse to exertion, and was and is an anomalous 
despiser and shirker of labor of whatever kind, whether 
material, mental or moral;. he went as the embodiment of 
all that is coarse, gross and vulgar ; he went as a slave, a 
savage, a criminal ; he was and is guilty of the revolting and 
unpardonable crime of loving life better than Hberty, and is 
justly chargeable with the indelible odium of most flagiti- 
ously enthralling both himself and his posterity forever to 
the will and caprice of other men. 

Yet this is the man, the vile man of Africa, the Ethiopian 
of groveihng nature, unsightly skin, and noxious stench, 
with whom certain very contemptibly foolish and knavish pol- 
iticians in America Avould have you and me and other decent 
people, of Olympian and Heliconian descent, fraternize and 
coalesce upon terms of equality; as if indeed he is, or ever 
can be, our equal, or even approximately our equal, any more 
than lead can ever be tl-^e equal of silver, copper the equal of 
gold, or a half pennyweight fragment of common bottle-green 



294 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



glass the equal of a three-carat diamond of the firc^ water. The 
bare proposition for miscegenation, or for long continuance 
together in the same society, under any arrangement or 
regulation whatever, the mere .nought of such a thing, in 
any conceivable form of accommodation, is repugnant and 
demoralizing to the last degree. In my humble but mature 
judgment, there is nothing in the antecedents of the negro, 
nor in his present or prospective character or condition, 
which justifies us in regarding him otherwise than as an ill- 
starred alien among us, an alien of most pestilent and per- 
nicious presence, to be tolerated only so long as a fair and 
favorable opportunity may offer for getting rid of him 
effectually and forever; and this very desirable opportunity 
we ought not merely to wait for, like drones of redundant 
f:iith and deficient diligence; but we should rather, like 
rational and sedulous men, work for it, and so, by honest 
thought, earnest inquiry, and intelligent action, hasten its 
coming. When the negro shall have been once entirely 
ousted from the Southern State ;, and his place filled by the 
white man, then the White South, like the White North, the 
White East, and the White West, will be on the highway to 
unexampled greatness and glory ; and with all our people, of 
every section, homogeneous in race, and harmonious in sen- 
timent, in purpose, in performance, we shall, for the first 
time in the history of our republic, begin to realize the 
bright predictions of national power and grandeur which 
have always been favorite themes with our most far-sighted 
and patriotic statesmen. 

The exchange of the negro for the white man will be, in 
comparison of dignity and worth, much like the exchange of 
the periwinkle for the oyster ; of the tomcod for the trout ; of 
the stickleback for the salmon; of the booby for the duck; 
of the gull for the swan; of the bLi/zard for the turkey; of 
the rat for the squirrel ; of the goat for the sheep ; of the ass 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 295 

for the horse ; of the Indian turnip and the toadstool for the 
Irish potato and the Dutch cauliflower ; of the night shade and 
the nettlt^ for the geranium and the rosebush ; of the blackjack 
and the alder for the whiteoak and the hickory; of the 
swamp and the pollywog-pond for the upland and the lake ; 
of the molecast and the anthill for the Blue Ridge and the 
Peak of Teneriffe ; of the glowworm and the firedrake for 
the moon and the sun ; of deformity and filth and ugliness 
for symmetry and cleanliness and beauty ; of falsehood and 
vice and ignominy for truth and virtue and honor; of hatred 
and strife and misery for love and peace and happiness. 

But I must not write to you as if I were in Asheville or 
in St. Louis, and you in Raleigh or in Washington. Let 
me remember, wdth due deference and decorum, that I am 
in Dakar; Dakar of dynastic dignity; for Dakar has a King, 
whose name, savoring of Saracenic sound, is Selim ; Selim 
the Sad ; for he is certainly the most solemn and sorrowful 
Selim I ever saw ; and this same SeHm has eight wives, all, 
like himself, blacker, if possible, than the ace of spades, or 
even Erebus itself, and more hideous than the witches of 
Endor; swarthy consorts, who, though not sweetly smiling 
nor savorly scented, have nevertheless not been slow in sup- 
plymg their sympathizing spouse with an abundance, if not 
a superabundance, of young Selians, Selims and Selimesses, 
for the succession to his sooty sovereignty. 

We arrived here amid the cimmerian moments of one 
o'clock last night ; and so anxious was I for an opportunity 
to see the Africans in Africa, — a race of barbarous and 
bloodthirsty blackamoors, for whom, speaking frankly, I have 
little more liking than I entertain for their subraundane con- 
geners, the other imps of darkness,— that, even at that 
moonless and dismal hour, (though the stars were shining 
brightly,) I went on shore among the negroes, naked or half- 
naked native negroes, without any guide or companion, and 



296 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

continued alone among them until seven o'clock this morn- 
ing, when several of my fellow-passengers from the steamer 
joined me in the curious sight-seeing and sound-hearing of 
this indescribably heathenish and mysterious land. The very 
earth itself and everything it contained, the air and all the 
visible space and objects surrounding me, seemed to be 
swayed or spell-bound by some strange or unpropitious 
influence. In no other part of the world have I ever been 
affected by such amazingly weird impressions and feelings 
as those which came over me here, about two o'clock this 
morning, when, solitary and alone. I found myself standing 
under the outspreading branches of a gigantic baobab, with 
prostrate groups of houseless, homeless, slumbering, snor- 
ing savages around me, and two vampires, one nearly as 
large as a crow, and the other about the size of a sparrow- 
hawk, flitting over my head ; while the dark and dreary 
stillness of the hour was further interrupted^ by the buzz of 
myriads of musquitoes and gnats and night-flies about my 
ears, and the melancholy croak and trill of frogs and 
screech-owls and various unknown but noisy insects, or 
other autochthonous creatures, only a few yards distant on 
either hand. 

An hour or so later, that is to say, about three o'clock, I 
went into the outskirts of the further end of the town, hav- 
ing met, in the course of my perambulations, several dark- 
ies, men and women, mutely prowling about, like lost souls, 
(as they are, in fact, and ever will be,) apparently without 
aim or interest. To most of these silent strollers, whom, in 
the blackness of darkness not unlike their own faces, I thus 
encountered afoot, I issued a sort of imperious and impa- 
tient grunt of recognition, and then, without pausing a 
moment, passed on, with intenser pride than ever before in 
the consciousness of po; s:ssing a Caucasian nose; whilst 
ihey, the sauntering vagabonds, first stopped and stared in 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 297 

astonishment, and then made their salaams with grotesquely 
awkward and comical gestures. 

About 'this same hour, three o'clock in the morning, while 
it was still very dark, I heard, a few hundred yards from 
where I was walking, a succession of measured and distinct 
mechanical sounds, pecuHar and striking, such as I had 
never heard before in all my life ; and, sto'J^ping for a few 
miimtes to listen more attentively, I soon heard a similar 
sound, or rather series of sounds, in the opposite direction ; 
very soon another quarter of the town saluted my auditory 
nerves with a reduplication of the same strange noise ; then, 
within the next three hours, it gradually broke out here and 
there and everywhere, until the whole town became an ear- 
piercing racket of monotonous thumping and bumping and 
banging. 

■ These singularly strange and almost deafening sounds, as 
I was not slow to ascertain, were occasioned by the negro 
women and girls, who, with large wooden mortr.rs and pes- 
tles, were pounding their millet, a kind of wild rice, which, 
in combination with much of the straw and chaff, generally 
more or less damp and mouldy, they reduce to the fineness 
of ordinary grits or bran, and then make into a sort of 
coarse bread, which constitutes their principal^ food. In 
nine cases in ten this bread, if bread it may be called, is 
such stuff as a good farmer in Carolina or Missouri would 
feed to his cattle in midwinter, when, perhaps, it might be 
inconvenient or impossible to obtain anything better. 

Dakar being a French settlement, and therefore amenable 
to the laws of France, or measurably so at least, (for King 
Selim, in the presence of a French garrison, reigns only on 
sufferance, with hmited powers, and is allowed a small pen- 
sion,) it is required here that every darky, outside of his own 
hut, shall wear at least one garment; and so, for the most 
J art, as a consequence of • this Gallic interference with the 



CgS MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

immemorial costume of Negroland, — in piiris naturalihiiSy. 
— the men wear only a pair of tow trowsers, reaching from 
the navel to the knee, and the women only a calico frock or 
slip, of corresponding length ; all being quite naked from the 
waist upward, and from the knee downward; neither hats,. 
nor bonnets, nor coats, nor jackets,. nor shirts, nor sacques,. 
nor shawls, nor shoes, nor slippers, nor socks, nor stockings,, 
having any wearers or wishers among the swinishly slothful 
and slovenly satyrs and sluts of Senegambia. As the women, 
especially the more elderly ones, were comminuting, in their 
mortars, their millet and millet-husks, — for in no case had^ 
the grain been more than half cleaned, or otherwise properly 
prepared, — the vigorous and constant strokes which they 
necessarily made with their pestles, caused their extraordi- 
narily long and flabby breasts to flop up and down in the 
most jerky and amusing manner; whilst the mammae of the 
younger maidens bobbed and quivered about like a multi- 
plicity of little balls or globules of calves-foot jelly on a dish 
in transit. 

With rare exceptions, two women or two girls, always on 
their feet, were pulverizing, face to face, at every mortar. 
Both the mortars and the pestles were, in most cases, very 
rudely and clumsily constructed. The number of huts in 
the town is probably about two hundred, giving mean shel- 
ter to nearly one thousand inhabitants ; and when we con- 
sider that this millet-mauling is going on for so long a time 
every day, every morning, in front of every Ethiopic habita- 
tion throughout Dakar, -if not indeed, throughout the whole 
of Senegambia and all other sections of nude and needy^ 
Negroland, we can form a faint, but only a faint and most 
inadequate, idea of the immense waste of energy and life 
among these and other nations of listless noodles and numb- 
skulls who never manifest any predilection or desire for the 
use of labor-saving machinery. One little mill, of only one- 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 299 

horse power, industriously run and properly managed, would 
grind more millet than i^s now crushed by mere matronly 
and maidenly manipulation in all the two hundred misfash- 
ioned mortars of Dakar; it would be ground far better, too, 
and with much less noise and nonsense. 

Besides the time-wasting trituration of the millet, and the 
sluggish and sloppy carrying of water in gourds on the 
head, all of which was done by women and girls, I have 
seen here nothing else performed in the Avay of labor. So 
far as I have been able to observe, no man, no "noble lord 
of creation," has deigned to do anything whatever, except 
to loll and loiter about, beg, grin, giggle and guffaw. 

On the premises of a Frenchman, who kept a store and 
hotel combined, in the Frank part of the town, (quite 
separate from the niggerville,) with whom a fellow-passenger 
and myself had bargained for breakfast, I saw three full- 
grown darkies, all women, by their united and most vigorous 
and violent efforts, succeed, within the space of little less 
than half an hour, in catching and killing one poor little 
pullet. Their method, not at all of gentle artifice or strata- 
gem, not in the least of quiet insnarement or entrapment^ 
was one of most rousmg and rampant attack with sticks and 
stones. It so happened that I witnessed the whole proceed- 
ing ; and many a circus has afforded me much less amuse- 
ment, barring the sincere sympathy I felt for the unfortunate 
fowl. The first stick, in the hands of a bawling and bounc- 
ing and bounding wench, was thrown at the chicken when it 
was at least twenty yards distant; but the missile missed its 
mark. Then the other two women, similarly armed and 
similarly acting, joined in the chase, sometimes throwing 
sticks, sometimes stones, and meanwhile making such a din 
of harsh and confused and deafening exclamations as one, 
in our own country, is but seldom apt to hear outside of a 
lunatic asylum. I was quite surprised at the length of 



300 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

time that the chicken ran and flew and avoided its three 
cruel pursuers and the numerous death-designed darts aimed 
at it ; and there was also conspicuously visible, during the pro- 
longed exercise, a most unseemly and outlandish airofwild- 
ness and savagery in the leaps and jumps and skips and capers 
and contortions and outcries of these bareheaded, bare- 
backed, barebreasted, barelegged, barefooted jetty jades, who 
were certainly a most simple and sorry sort of henhunters 
on this occasion. It may possibly have been their first ex- 
perience in this lively phase of domestic life. They took no 
short nor modest steps, but vaulted like kangaroos or roe- 
bucks, lifting up and spreading out their heels, both behind 
and sideways, and with unique curves and twists, from three 
to four feet above the ground at every saltation, and expos- 
ing their hams and other portions of their posteriors with an 
unconsciousness and freedom not often seen in America be- 
yond the in-door limits of an infant's nursery. Finally, 
however, after having been hunted hither and thither, and 
chased high and low, often indirectly hit and much bruised, 
amid the fright and squalls and flutter and hubbub of all its 
companions, the doomed pullet was struck a fatal blow 
athwart the neck, with a stick forcibly hurled irom the hand 
of one of the three graceless Dianas of Dakar ; and about 
three hours afterward, that is to say, at or near eleven 
o'clock, (everything in Africa is either done very slowly and 
imperfectly, and with an obstructive and depressive super- 
abundance of assistants and consumers, or not done at all,) 
our breakfast, consisting mostly of crackers, cheese, sar- 
dines, bread, boiled chicken, and a bottle of Medoc, was 
ready, and was taken with an excellent appetite, but not 
without our being subjected meanwhile to an immense 
amount of molestation and mendicity. 

Seating ourselves in the back part our of host's store, where 
a common pine table, without cloth, had been set for us, and 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 



301 



where an open door on either side of the building afforded 
good ventilation and convenient means of ingress and 
egress, swarms of the nasty negroes, big and little, old and 
young, male and female, the Larger half-clad, or less than 
half-clad, and the smaller with only a pack-thread tied 
around their loins, (for the tiniest string, they contend, is a 
garment, and so, by this absurd quibble and device, as yet 
tolerated, ihey satisfy on the one hand, or defy on the other, 
the law of France,) began to crowd around us, holding out 
their hands and soliciting, with the most shameless urgency, 
a portion of our morning meal.. This abrupt and boisterous 
importunity on their part at once became to us an annoy- 
ance barely endurable. The wretches blocked both door- 
ways and extended themselves in crowded hues far out on 
both sides of the store, excluding from us the air, and 
almost suffocating us, besides, in another way, with the foul 
exhalations from their disgustingly filthy and skunkish per- 
sons. To have been besieged by five thousand gallinippers 
on the one hand, and by ten thousand polecats on the other, 
would hardly have placed us in a more perplexing dilemma. 
Before we could take a morsel in peace, it became neces- 
sary for us to appeal to the landlord for protection against 
this loathsome and harassing mob of half-starved beggars. 
With both hands he quickly and passionately grasped a 
wide board, a piece of plank from a dry-goods box, about 
four feet long, and. Frenchmanlike, rushed furiously upon 
those who vvere pressing us most closely, banging them over 
their unbreakable heads and pachydermatous shoulders, and 
causing many of them to howl and scatter in every direc- 
tion, like a pack of whipped curs ; while others, further off 
and unhurt, fell down upon the ground in paroxysms of 
laughter, kicking up their heels and rolling and tumbling 
and screaming like demons. What a scene ! what a spec- 
tacle! It was at once, in combination, a bedlam for the eye 



302 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS 



and a pandemonium for the ear. How very little of good 
in anything may we ever rationally expect from any set of 
creatures capable of such a disgraceful exhibition of sport- 
ive levity and tomfoolery under the just complainings of 
bare backs and the rightful cravings of starving stomachs ! 
Of sadly short duration, howc\cr, was the relief which my 
companion and myself enjoyed from this more than nine- 
fold nuisance of noisome and nonsensical negroes. 

Scarcely had our worthy host returned to his duties in the 
store, when we were again almost insufferably beset and 
encircled by great numbeis of the more wary miscreants 
who had been so fortunate as to escape chastisement. 
Again we demanded the immediate and remedial interfer- 
ence of our landlord, who, seizing and uplifting his broad 
board of dry-goods box, as he had done at first, started full 
tilt against the enemy, who, however, broke ranks and ran 
away so rapidly, helter-skelter, as to evade entirely the 
heavy blows which were rightly intended to be laid upon the 
loathsome skin and flesh nearest to their good-for-nothing 
bones. Once more the merchant returned to his counter, 
and yet once more the swarm of noxious negroes gathered 
around us, completely filling the doorways again, and, with 
extended hands and glaring eyes and chattering speech, 
entreated us for anything and for everything which we 
might be disposed to give them. Just then how heartily, 
how earnestly and profoundly, I wished for a full-loaded 
Gating gun at my right hand, and for a well-charged blun- 
derbus at my left ! There was simply no remedy, none 
whatever; the evil was too complex, too rank, and of too great 
magnitude. Tired and hungry as we were, we had to worry 
through our dear-bought breakfast as best we could, amid 
a buzz and fever of importunities, and a concatenation of 
ridiculous and favor-currying grins and grimaces, which only 
served to fortify me in my long-settled convictions, that it is 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 303 

Utterly impossible for clean-naturid and clear-sighted white 
men ever to disdain the negro in a manner at all commen- 
surate with his manifold and measureless demerits.. 

Immediately after breakfast, my friend and myself called 
on the " King," and, by paying twenty francs for the privi- 
lege, we had the " honor " of an introduction to, and shook 
hands with, ^' His Majesty" and several of his eight 
"Queens," and also with many of the "Princes" and 
" Princesses " of the " Royal Blood," of whom many of the 
younger ones, in their huts, were as stark naked as minnows 
or mice or monkeys in midsummer. It is probable that a more 
indigent and woe-begone set of dynastic darkies can nowhere 
be found this side of the lower regions. All the toggery 
upon their persons, and everything in their eight huts, includ- 
ing the eight huts themselves, — in short, all their property 

• of whatever kind, — did not cost, and would not bring at 
any ordinary sale, public or private, the sum total of two 
hundred dollars. Think of this trifling amount as repre- 
senting the combined wealth of every member of the 
" Royal Family" of Dakar, comprising one " King," eight 
"Queens," and thirty-four "Princes" and "Princesses," 
being an average of less than five dollars for each, and it 
will convey a moderately correct impression of the extreme 
destitution and distress common among the uncommonly 

• common commoners of these most unimprovably proleta- 
rian and plebeian people. Including the glass beads and 
brass rings and other shabby trinkets around their necks and 
wrists and ankles, and in their ears, (I have seen as many 
as fourteen dingy, dirty, greenly-tarnished rings in the ears 
of a single wench, seven in each ear, leaving scarcely a par- 
ticle of the lobe remaining undestroyed,) the average intrin- 
sic value of their wearing apparel and all their dther posses- 
sions, would probably not exceed one dollar per capita; and 

■ certainly, in very many cases, it would not amount to so 
much as fifty cents.' 



304 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

Soon after leaving Seliin's '• palace," which, both \vit1\ii-h 
and without, is far inferior to the meanest negro-kitchen I 
ever saw in North CaroUna, I went to a large tree, a baobab,, 
near by, in the shade of which two lousy-looking, and assas- 
sia-visaged mulatto Marabouts (itinerant Mohammedani 
missionaries from Morocco,) were lying flat on their stom- 
achs, on the ground, one reading aloud, and the other copy- 
ing, in the Arabic language, passages from the Koran. 
These "scripture " passages, freshly written, the proselyters 
rolled or otherwise compressed into minute billets, and 
either sold or presented them to the Mumbo-Jumbo 
darkies, who sewed them up in bits of leather, which were 
also supplied for the purpose by the Morocco saints, 
and, with silly awe and stupid wonder, wore them around 
their necks, or carried them elsewhere about their persons, 
as amulets and fetiches. It needs no argument to prove 
the pitiable superstition and the matchless folly of such mis- 
sionary operations as these ; but what shall be said of the 
success or non-success of the creed-carrying crusaders of 
our own country, or of the evangelizing efforts of the vast 
brotherhood of European zealots and enthusiasts, who, 
under the impulses of a similar delusion, are so uselessly 
and foolishly, if not culpably, wasting away their energies 
and lives in behalf of an utterly despicable and execrable 
and God-forsaken race ? A Jesuit missionary, a queer and. 
questionable prig of piety, is permanently sustained in 
Dakar by the Catholic propagandists of Rome and Paris. 
For any real or lasting good that he or any of his fellow 
fanatics, in the capacity of priest, whether CathoHc, Protes- 
tant, Mohammedan, Brahman, or Buddhist, will ever be able 
to accomplish among A., .a negroes in Africa, he might 
just as well be sustained in a community of gorillas or 
baboons. 

Such a thing as a decent and comfortable residence ia 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 305 

Negroland, outside of the white section of a white settlement, 
may be a thing of excogitation, but not of sight or reahty. 
Here, in the ebon quarter of Dakar, one may behold many 
huts, hovels, and holes, but no houses. All the huts in this 
niggerville are of about the same size and shape and mate- 
rial. They are built of bamboo, bunglingly bound together 
and wattled with withes, wiregrass and clay ; are in the form 
of old-fashioned bee-gums, looking, at a distance, very much 
like haystacks ; and are generally from seven to eight feet 
high, with a diameter of about nine feet at the base. The 
openings, which serve the purposes of doors, without any 
other means of closing them than pieces of old bagging, or 
other strips of coarse cloth, are so low and small that a man 
of ordinary stature needs to bend down almost to his hands 
and knees in order to be able to enter within. Both the 
walls and the roofs of all the huts I examined were more or 
less open to the weather ; and not one of them seemed ever 
to have been honored with the completeness of even an ig- 
noble finish. The average of the entire cost of the construc- 
tion of these huts was probably a sum equal to about four dol- 
lars of our money ; many of them less, and some more. The 
' palace " of the " King," the materials of which, as of all other 
huts, consist of posts or stakes, bamboo, and mud intermix- 
ed with grass, could have been built anywhere in the United 
States (but for the shame and stigma of having it in the 
country,) for ten or twelve dollars. 

Furniture, beds and bedding, the various necessary wares 
and utensils, and the countless other cozy and convenient 
things which a Caucasian naturally expects to see in and 
about a human habitation, are here quite as scarce and in- 
visible as hens' teeth. Only a few straw mats on which they 
sleep, earthen pots in which they cook, and big gourds in 
which they carry water, were perceptible as the adjuncts and 
appendages of their surprisingly squalid and abject abodes. 

19 



3d6 MISCELLANOUS ODDMENITS, 

Nor was tlie eye gladdened, in a single instance, by the 
sight of any garden, or field, or lawn, or cultivated vine, or 
vegetable, or fruit, or flower. They have no horses, nor 
mules, nor asses, — except themselves ; no cows, no hogs, no 
sheep ; but here and there were a few flop-eared goats, 
whose presence I could account for only on the ground of a 
probable affinity of scent and satyr-descent between tl':em- 
selves and their owners. As for barn-yard fowls, where, in 
the first place, there are no barns, and where, in the second 
place, everything is foul even in the absence of fowls, I saw 
them not, not one. So far, indeed, are these Yoloff yahoos 
from all friendly and actual relationship with any species of 
domestic animal, that I have not been able to find among 
them even so common a creature as a cat or a dog ; though 
they themselves dwell in kennels, and are doubtless the most 
doggish dullards and drones anywhere discernible under the 
disc of the dogstar. 

The inveteracy and persistency of begging and teasing 
among these clattering and cajoling clowns and caitiffs, are 
positively marvelous. The doctrine of equivalents, the idea 
of justice and propriety in exchanging one thing for another, 
would seem never to have once penetrated their murky 
minds. Like hobbling and hungry hounds, they all know 
how to receive, but not one of them seems ever to have 
learned any fundamental principle of the noble art of giv- 
ing. Equally true is it that, even if any one of them did 
possess both the knowledge and the disposition to make a 
present, or to confer a benefaction, he would yet totally lack 
the ability to do so. Nor is it at all possible ever to satisfy 
these pagan petitioners; the more one gives them, the more 
they ask and expect. Numbers o-f them followed me every- 
where I went ; and three or four, in particular, exercised a 
species of low cunning, coupled with a degree of impu- 
dence and shamelessness, which I had never before wit- 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 307 

-nessed. Within half a minute or so after I had placed a coin 
in the open right hand of him on my left, he would dart 
behind, 'among the rabble, and reappear at my right elbow, 
with his left hand open in appeal for another contribution, 
assuming, meanwhile, a peculiar expression of newness and 
innocence, as if indeed I had never seen him before, nor he 
me. When I first discovered that several of these coal- 
black and baseborn bamboozlers were systematically and 
repeatedly practicing against me in this manner, I could 
scarcely believe my onw eyes. Notwithstanding ray long 
familiarity with the naturally deceitful and scurvy nature of 
the negro, — from the very days of infancy, in fact, when, in 
North Carolina, near the banks of the South Yadkin, I was 
nursed in the arms of my father's slaves, — I was yet unpre- 
pared to observe at once, with perfect equanimity, these new 
evidences of his inherent sneakingness and dissimulation. 
To what an excellent use I could just then have put, if I 
had only had them, a few first-rate Orsini bombs ! Other 
darkies, less active and less monkey-like in their slyness, 
audaciously maintained their position on whichever side of 
me they happened to be, and begged incessantly, quickly 
transferring from the hand that received into the hand of 
deposit, and then unblushingly thrusting back the empty 
hand ; the palm being distended with expectation, and the 
fingers moving with the very ecstacy of eagerness, for an 
additional gratuity. 

One of the worst of these tormentors, a rawboned but 
youthful rascal, to whom, even after the discovery of his 
double-dealing in the matter of money-getting by means of 
money-begging, first on one side and then on the other, 
I had, winking at his tricks, given at least three half-francs, 
on as many different occasions within the brief space of a 
quarter of an hour, began seriously to beg me for my boots, 
(a new and excellent pair, made over my own lasts, and for 



3o8 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

which under somewhat exigent circumstances of time and 
business, I recently paid, in New York, the really exorbitant 
price of sixteen dollars,) and, during the next two hours, my 
ears were certainly not free from a repetition of that special 
and modest request at a longer interval than three minutes 
at most. Finally, wishing to ascertain whether or not the 
fellow was gifted, even in the remotest degree, with any 
sense of equity, I began, with the assistance of an interpre- 
ter,' to argue the case with him, justifying my refusal to 
comply with his request, and inquiring of him what he pro- 
posed to give me in exchange for my boots. His reply was, 
in substance, that they were good boots, and he wanted 
them ; that he had no money, nor other thing of value, and 
could not therefore give me any material consideration for 
them ; that he was engaged soon to be married to a young 
woman, and had nothing to wear on his feet, (all he wore 
anywhere was a pair of knee-and-navel reaching tow trow- 
sers,) and that I had a pocket full of money, and could buy 
for myself another pair! Herein, however, the prayer of 
the kinky-haired and connubially inclined candidate for hap- 
piness unspeakable in this world, proved altogether boot- 
less. Severely obdurate and uncompliant, I kept my boots 
in continuous service above and below the very insteps 
which they were made to infold. 

All things considered, Ethiopia, in the most free and ex- 
tensive signification of the word, is a very remarkable part 
of the world. The continent of Africa comprises a territory 
whose area covers nearly eleven millions of square miles ; 
being, next to Asia, the largest division of land on our globe. 
It contains about three millions of square miles more terri- 
tory than North America, is considerably larger than all 
Europe and South America combined, and is more than 
three times larger than Europe by itself. The extreme 
length of Africa, from north to south, measures a distance 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 309 

of about five thousand miles: while, in its widest part, its 
breadth is not less than four thousand six hundred miles. 
Through the Semitic and other semi-Caucasian cities of 
Egypt, through Caucasian-founded Carthage, and through 
other white and half- white settlements in northern Africa, 
civilization has been gently, most of the time too gently, 
offering itself to the negroes almost ever since the dawn of 
authentic history ; but they have always repulsed it with 
rudeness, with revilings, with riotous rashness, and with 
murder. Neither of the two great Americas, nor Australasia, 
no, nor even Europe itself, has enjoyed such early and 
various and favorable opportunities for culture and refine- 
ment as, especially since the first days of Israelitic and 
Phoenician expansion, have been extended to Africa, both 
north and south of the great desert of Sahara. This 
monster region of sterility, this mighty desert in the midst 
of an almost immeasurable continent, is, however, as a tor- 
rid waste in Africa, of much less superficial extent than the 
aggregate of our frigid wastes in North America. Yet, in all 
the essentials which constitute and characterize the great- 
ness and grandeur of nations, litde white Rhode Island, the 
runHest of our States, despite her comparative youth and 
inexperience, is this day infinitely superior to the whole vast 
area of big black Negroland. 

Coming down from the earlier ages, when the active and 
enterprising whites first brought themselves and their insti- 
tutions in contact with the inert and lisdess blacks, we find 
that, in the seventh century preceding the Christian era, as 
related by Herodotus, the " Father of History," a company 
of Phoenician navigators, under the patronage of Necho, 
the Egyptian king of that epoch, made a three-years' voy- 
age round Lybia, Ethiopia, Africa ; having sailed out through 
the Erythraean Sea, the Red Sea, on the East, and returned 
by way of the Pillars of Hercules, the Strait of Gibraltar, 



3IO MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

on the West. About two centuries later, as we learn from 
his Periplus, Hanno, the Carthaginian navigator, (a white 
man, of Phoenician descent,) who was contemporary with 
Pericles of Greece and Cincinnatus of Rome, made very 
important explorations and discoveries along a great part of 
the west coast of Africa ; and from his time, down through 
the long period of nearly two thousand years, the whites of 
both northern Africa and southern Europe kept well ajar the 
doors of civilization to the negroes in Negroland, and en- 
couraged them in every possible manner, but always in vain, 
to adopt habits of life more in conformity with the laws of 
common decency and respectability and human progress and 
welfare. Then, in 141 2, twenty odd years before the birth 
of Columbus, Prince Henry of Portugal, son of King John 
I, began to incite and promote a series of bold African ex- 
plorations, which, wisely continued by his successors, finally 
culminated, in 1487, in theglorious discovery and rounding 
of the Cape of Good Hope, by Bartholomew Dias. 'I'hat 
was five years prior to the discovery of America by Christo- 
pher Columbus ; and it is by no means improbable that the 
brilliant success of the Portuguese navigator stimulated very 
materially, in the breast of the Italio-Spanish discoverer, a 
spirit of world-wide enterprise and adventure". 

In 1 61 8, the African Company of Great Britain established 
English settlements near the mouth of the Gambia. The 
Dutdi founded Cape Colony in 1650. French settlements 
on the banks of the Senegal and along the coast between 
that river and Cape Verde, were made in 1675. vSierra 
Leone was settled by the P^nglish in 1787. Wholly at the 
expense, and solely under the advice and direction of be- 
nevolent-minded white Americans, Liberia was settled by 
free negroes from the United States in 1820. It thus ap- 
pears that while the negro's way was paid from Africa by a. 
low class of white men, whose inordinate cupidity, in con- 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 3II 

nection with his atrocious cowardice, led them to capture 
and treat him as a slave, his way was paid back to Africa by 
a higher class of white men, who, notwithstanding the gen- 
erosity and nobleness of their natures, yet lacked the wit and 
foresight necessary to perceive thi utter ultimate uselessness 
of making any additional effort to lift him alive out of the 
black and blighting shades of barbarism in which he has 
been so stupidly sleeping and steeping and slaveing and 
starving during all the long centuries of the past. 

Apparently in wilful or perverse ignorance of these plain 
facts, however, there are multitudes of otherwise sensible 
and worthy Caucasians, in the United States and elsewhere, 
constantly speaking and acting in real or pretended blind- 
ness to all that has been thought and said and done and 
suffered for the negro by the ancient white Phoenicians, 
Carthaginians, Egyptians, Assyrians, ^Arabians, Grecians 
and Romans; and by the modern white Portugues, Span- 
iards, Italians, Frenchmen, Germans, Britons and Ameri- 
cans ; who exclaim in argument, and in extenuation of the 
darky's despicable duncery and dronishness, that he, poor 
fellow, has never yet had a fair chance ! Fy ! Fudge ! Fid- 
dlesticks ! The negro, forsooth, has never yet had a fair 
chance ? I know very well what would be a proper system 
of discipline for the mind-deficient or mind-diseased Cau- 
casians who nauseatingly unbridle their tongues to babble 
and gabb'.e such intolerable nonsense as this. Every time 
they malapertly separate their lips for the utterance of pro- 
negro sophistries and misstatements, from one to three fresh- 
boiled potatoes, about the size of owls' eggs, slightly cool- 
ed down to the two hundredth degree of Fahrenheit, 
ought to be inserted within the molar-touching and distensi- 
ble vicinage of their uncomely cheeks. That, as I conceive, 
is what would constitute a most fit and wholesome correct- 
ive of the unworthily white apologists for a race of vile- 



312 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

visaged and mean-spiiited bloc'dieads, as naturally and 
unchangeably base and beggarly as they are black. 

The simple truth is, that the negro, from the time when 
he first became known, in the dim ages of the past, down to 
the present day, has had, from outside influences, far more 
and far better opportunities for improvement and progress 
than any white race on the face of the whole earth. In 
fact, there has always been, on the part of many of the 
larger-hearted and purer-minded classes of all the white peo- 
ples who have ever come in contact with the negro, a gen- 
eral and continuous combination of misplaced sympathy and 
action in his behalf; such an organized concentration of 
earnest effort in his interest, indeed, as has never yet been 
devised or practiced for the exaltation of any one of the 
'different white families or nations of mankind. Yet every- 
thing that has been done for him has been done in vain. 
He is the same savage to-day that he was thousands upon 
thousands of years ago, when the infant Moses, famishing 
for feminine favors, was found fretting among the bulrushes 
near the banks of the Nile ; and if, unfortunately for the 
world, this thick-lipped and flat-nosed non-proficient, this 
ink-colored and ogre-like jackanape, this night-born and 
bane-bringing tomnoddy, should live so long, he will not be 
a whit better off" ten thousand years hence than he was then 
or is now. Still tolerated in Caucasian communities, he 
may, as he has already done, contribute very disastrously to 
the demoralization and degradation of the natures of a cer- 
tain sort of uncertain white men, bringing them down, in 
many cases, by means of mulattoism and other mongrel and 
monstrous misdeeds, almost to his own low level ; but left 
to himself, pushed aside, driven away, as he ought to be, 
just as if he were a mangy or leprous cur, he will for a time 
remain in existence, a delinquent, a rapscallion, a reprobate, 
and will then die and disappear forever; so that he will 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 313 

thenceforth be known only m defunct and fossil form ; and 
very soon after the extinction of his race the whole earth 
will joyfully reawaken and find itself born anew to a 
higher and whiter and better life. Not more foolishly and 
fruitlessly did the mediaeval and self-deluded alchemists of 
Europe experuiient long and laboriously in their endeavors 
to transmute base materials into precious metals, than the 
over-credulous negrophiHsts of America are now struggling, 
— struggling against the decrees of Heaven itself, — to con- 
vert fell and fated blackamoors into men of estimable traits 
of character. 

One of the very worst things about slavery was, that it 
brought and fostered the two races face to face, and kept 
them in continuous juxtaposition ; a most heterogeneous and 
sinister condition of things, under which the negroes' nega- 
tive influence for evil against the whites always preponderated 
over the whites' positive influence for evil against the blacks ; 
so that, considered collectively, and taking into account all 
the facts and consequences, the whites were invariably the 
greater sufferers. Yet the whole system of slavery, on 
either side, was one only of evil, and that continually. 
Most sincerely and profoundly do I thank God that we have 
so completely emancipated the negroes from ourselves ; for, 
in simple truth, as every well-informed person is aware, the 
work of freeing the fungous and foetid fellows was our own 
work, the work of white men, and not the work of the 
blacks -themselves. That, though, was truly a very impor- 
tant step in the right direction. Yet we shall have earned 
the honors of a far more brilliant and laudable achievement, 
when we succeed, — as God grant we may succeed erelong, — 
in thoroughly and forever emancipating ourselves from the 
negroes. That indeed is the next and, beyond all question, 
the most momentous step for us to take ; and it is eminently 
desirable and proper that we should take it, or at least- begin 
to take it, at the earliest practicable period. 



3T4 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

Never does a dog more delight in securing for himself the- 
overruling providence and protection of a white master, 
than does the negro delight in securing for himself the same 
boon ; in which case both the dog and the negro are, in one 
sense, to be complimented and envied ; while the white 
master, in at least nine cases in ten, is to be both pitied and 
blamed. The white man who degrades himself by becom- 
ing the master, or employer, or overseer, of the negro, or 
by any other sort of close relationship with the caitiff, 
thereby inevitably incurs the imminent risk, to both himself 
and his posterity, of being, soon or late, involved in all the 
worst vices and crimes which have ever yet oppressed the 
human heart, or blackened the pages of history. In one 
way, or in another, the negro will always victimize us, as a 
hanger-on, whenever he has it in his power to do so, just as 
will also the flea, the tick, the jigger, the louse and the 
chinch. It behooves us all to guard, with especial vigilance,, 
the integrity of our blood, our health, our substance, our 
peace and our honor. Pestiferous creatures must no longer 
be gently cared for and nurtured, as if they had an inde- 
feasible right to demand sumptuous maintenance and pecu- 
Har privileges at the expense of their betters ; nor must 
things positively deleterious in themselves be quietly suffered 
to exist at large, as if they were not already teeming and 
overflowing with the latent agencies of a common fatality. 

Henceforth, with the past and the present in full view be- 
fore us, justice and acumen and common sense, and an- 
enlightened regard for the future general welfare of the world, 
dictate to us but one policy to be pursued toward the negro, 
toward the Indian, toward the Chinese, and toward all other 
races of mankind not white, not wise, not worthy ; and that, 
pohcy has already been well portrayed to us by our prudent 
forefathers of New England and other conspicuously and 
gloriously white sections of the United States, in their tern- 



MISCEI.LANEOUS ODDMENTS. 315 

porary intercourse with the aboriginal and abandoned and 
extirpable sons of the soil. As the humble but honored and 
honorable* white instruments of "a Avhite and ever-whitening 
Providence, it is to be hoped that we may not, at any time, 
be found to be repreliensibly nor remissly unmindful of the 
high privileges and white duties which so momentously de- 
volve upon us in this regard. 

Despite the superficially formed and flippandy expressed 
judgments of a very considerable part of mankind, we shall 
all be rewarded, here or hereafter, in exact proportion to the 
faithfulness and efficiency of our services in any really good 
words or works which may constitute the most prominent 
features of our respective careers. In the preeminently 
good and all-important work of whitening up three Ameri- 
cas, Africa, Asia and Oceanica, let there be no cessation nor 
intermission whatever ; for just as these several grand divis- 
ions of our globe shall become more and more white, and 
more and more like New England and Old England and 
the continent of Europe, there will be a corresponding ex- 
pansion of the area of civilization and progress, and in due 
time the inestimable blessings of peace, plenty, purity and 
happiness will universally abound with the most exquisite 
and delightful profusion. 

Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO CONGRESSMAN COX. 

St. Louis, August 25, 1879. 
Hon. S. S. Cox, A^ezu York. 

Dear Sir: ^ly thanks are especially due to you, and I 
desire to offer them accordingly, for the varied and sincere 



3l6 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

pleasure which 1 have just derived anew from a repcnisal of 
your long and meandering, yet very agreeable and success- 
ful, " Search for Winter Stmbeams," through Italy, Spain, 
Corsica, and Algeria. Of all your books, this is the one 
which my wife and myself like best ; and the place it occu- 
pies in our library is immediately between " Seward's 
Travels Around the World," and " The Old World in its 
New Face," by Dr. Bellows. 

By your "Buckeye Abroad" and your "Search for 
Winter Sunbeams," you have secured for yourself a firm and 
exalted position among travellers and authors ; by your 
*' Eight Years in Congress," you have .clearly established 
your right to be ranked as a statesman ; and by your expla- 
nation of the volatile and exquisite mysteries of " Why We 
Laugh," you have proved yourself a philosopher. So, my 
good friend, what more do you want in this world? or what 
higher ^ambition can you reasonably indulge or expect to 
gratify? I can conceive of only one other round in the lad- 
der of fame to which you may perhaps prudendy aspire ; 
but whether that might not be on the descending scale, 
rather than on the scale of elevation, admits, I think, of 
much doubt. So far as my own limited vision enables me to 
discern the situation, it now only 'remains for you to become 
two-fifths crazy, like Oliver Wendell Holmes, and turn poet! 

In reality, however, I trust you will attempt nothing of the 
£ort, but stand steadfast just where you are, as a man of 
plain and strong common sense, as one of the Republic's 
spiciest and sprightliest Representatives, and as a national 
legislator of well-proved integrity and ability, who, though 
possibly unable to boast in fact of a larger share of infallibility 
of judgment than is claimed by the popishly pious Pecci in 
the palace of the Vatican, is nevertheless always found on the 
right side of every measure of government in which is certain 
to inhere any logical and inevitable outcome of positive im- 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 317 

p6rtance. On this subject I am quite earnest in my wishes ; 
for, without meaning to flatter you in the least, I have discov- 
ered that, touching our foreign relations particularly, you pos- 
sess a quality and scope of statesmanship that cannot be well 
spared from the sphere of our Congress at Washington. 

Not longer in the future than next year, if not in the latter 
part of this, it may be proper for me, it may become my duty, 
to ask the American Congress to ponder and act on the 
proposition whether, on the one hand, there are not good 
and sufficient reasons why, regardless of mere personal con- 
siderations, and only for considerations of Justice and Honor 
and State, we should at once reduce the grade of our diplo- 
matic representative in the Empire of Brazil to a fourth-class 
ministership, or a consul-generalship, and, on the other hand, 
whether there are not very cogent and solid reasons why we 
should, without de^ay, raise the grade of our diplomatic 
representative in the Argentine Republic to a first-class am- 
bassadorship. It is further possible, and by no means im- 
probable, that I may take occasion to suggest certain need- 
ed changes in our diplomatic relations with two or three 
of the West Coast nationalities of South America ; and feel- 
ing assured that you will continue to weigh all the facts and 
arguments and suggestions which may be submitted to you, 
in the scale or balanceof their own merits, I shall, with your 
permission, presume to reckon on the very efficient aid which 
you yourself will doubtless be able to render me in this abso- 
lutely serious and prosaic work ; provided, as I have already 
surmised, provided you do not meanwhile, in a rash effort to 
outrival the rhythmical reputation of the Hub-honored 
Holmes, become two-fifths demented, and turn poet. 

Pray, sir, be kind enough to indicate to me what I may 
depend on in this regard. In accordance with my usual 
habit, I shall confidently hope for the best ; and the best that 
can be in this case, is that, turning a cold shoulder to the 



3l8 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

bewitching beckons and blandishments of the Boston barB, 
you will unswervingly remain true to your own elder self, 
hereafter as heretofore, and then all will be as right and reg- 
ular and merry as a happy marriage. 

Yours, most respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



CONGRESSMAN COX TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, August 30, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., St. Louis. 

Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your interesting and 
unique letter of the 25th instant. Waiving all the neat and 
suave things you have said to me and of me, and crimson- 
ing not a little with that roseate modesty for which die 
average Congressman is not celebrated either by Boston 
Muses or journalistic squibs, I presume to respond, — that, 
perfunctorily, as Chairman of a Committee on Foreign 
affairs, and otherwise as a citizen and a Member of Con- 
gress, I shall be glad to hear and heed any suggestions you 
mav make pertinent to any judicious and necessary reform 
in our diplomatic relations. I am sure the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, in the House, which includes myself, will be 
disposed to consider, in the fullest spirit of fairness and 
friendship toward yourself personally, any matter of public 
importance w^hich you may deem proper or have occasion to 
lay before it. With kind recollections of pleasant interviews 
with you in other days, 

I am, very truly yours, 

S. S. COX. 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 319 

MR. HELPER TO DR. LIEBER. 

New York, August 30, 1872. 
Dr. Francis Lie her, 

Dear Sir: Permit me to request of you the favor of in- 
forming me where I may be able to purchase, if it be on 
sale in any bookstore or elsewhere, your poem, written many 
years ago, on the long-proposed Ship Canal through Central 
America ; a poem which I have never yet had the pleasure 
of either reading or seeing, but complimentary references to 
which I saw in a Spanish-printed newspaper at Cochabamba, 
in Bolivia, when I was there, last January. Yet I may here 
very frankly acknowledge, that it is the subject itself rather 
than the hterary merits of the poem, however ingeniously and 
powerfully the theme may have been treated by you in 
metrical form, which influences me, for the most part, in 
making this request; it being my earnest desire to obtain 
all the stimulative facts, arguments and suggestions that can 
be easily got together in advocacy of the cutting, just so 
soon as may be practicable, of the huge interoceanic high- 
way for commerce under consideration, whether across the 
Isthmus of Darien, the Isthmus of Nicaragua, or the Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec. For the general good and advancement 
of all parts of the New World especially, the projected canal 
is very greatly needed \ let it be cut. 

Yours, truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



DR. LIEBER TO AIR. HELPER. 

New York, September 2, 1872. 
HiNTON. R. Helper, Esq., 

Dear Sir : Your note of the 30th ultimo brings to my 



320 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

recollection an old and rather fugitive effusion, too diminutive 
and unimportant ever to have been published by itself, and 
therefore not purchasable in separate form. I wrote it nearly 
a quarler of a century ago, and it was then published in 
several periodicals ; but in this country at least, it seems to 
have been lying dormant for many years. I feel flattered 
to hear from you that what I was quite prepared to regard 
as a fossil, has but recendy cropped out in animated form 
on the surface of Bolivia. The incentive to my writing the 
poem was a portion of a very prosaic but terse and states- 
manlike Message from President Polk to Congress in 1847, 
during the progress of our war with Mexico ; and I will 
now quote the particular part of his message which aroused 
the affl.:tus of my good-natured but feeble Muse. 

" The Peace Commissioner from the United States to 
Mexico was authorized to agree to the establisment of the 
Rio Grande as the boundary, * * * and to obtain a 
cession to the United States of the Provinces of New Mexico 
and Upper California, and the privilege of the right of way 
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. * * * It has been 
my constant effort to maintain and cultivate the most inti- 
mate relations of friendship with all the independent powers 
of South America ; and this policy has been attended with 
the happiest results. It is true that the settlement and pay- 
ment of many just claims of American citizens against these 
nations have been long delayed. The peculiar position in 
which they have been placed, and the desire on the part of 
ray predecessors, as well as myself, to grant them the utmost 
indulgence, have hitherto prevented these claims from being: 
urged in a manner demanded by strict justice. The time 
has arrived when they ought to be finally adjusted and 
liquidated, and efforts are now making for that purpose." 

In view of the information given in your supplemental 
communication, in the form of a postscript, I take it for 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. , 32 1 

granted that certain striking coincidences apparent in, or 
connected with, the foregoing extract from President Polk's 
Message to Congress, in 1847, will not fail to attract your 
attention. The matter contained in that extract, besides 
serving its purposes so well in the sterner actualities and 
realities of our nation, afforded me, at the same time, ample 
cantering ground for my Pegasus ; and it no\y tallies exactly 
with the large practical acquaintance which you yourself are 
manifestly making with South American affairs. Taking 
pleasure in transcribing for you, from one of my repositories. 
of things personal, the little poem in regard to which you 
have made inquiry, and which you will find herewith 
inclosed, I shall be especially happy if you can use it in 
any manner that will aid in carrying out its author's most 
ardent aspirations, as they are therein but too imperfectly 
expressed. 

Yours faithfully, 

FRANCIS LIEBER. 



THE CENTRAL AMERICAN SHIP CANAL. 
FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC. 

AN ODE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 
BY FRANCIS LIEBER. 

Rend America asunder ! 
And perfect the Binding Sea 
That emboldens Man and tempers — 
Make the ocean free ! 

Break the bolt which bars the passage; 
Then our Mississippi pours 
Western wealth still farther westward; 
Let that sea be ours — 



\22 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

Ours by all the hardy whalers, 
By the westward Oregon, 
By the west-im])elled and working 
: Unthralled Saxon son. 

When the mighty God of Nature 
Made this favored Continent, 
He allowed it, yet un-severed, 
That a race be sent, 

Able, mindful of his purpose, 
Prone to people, to subdue, 
And to bind the lands with iron, 
Or to force them through. 

Long indeed they have been wooing, 
The Pacific and his bride ; 
Now 'tis time for holy wedding — 
Join them by the tide. 

What the prophet-navigator 
Seeking straits to far Cathay, 
But begun, now consummate it — 
Make the water-way. 

T^lessed eyes that shall behold it, 
IVhen the pointing boom shall veer, 
ieading through the parted Andes, 
While all nations cheer ! 

There at Suez, Europe's mattock 
Cuts the briny road with skill. 
And must Darien bid defiance 
To the pilot still ? 

Up, then, at it ! Earnest People ! 
Bravely wrought just now thy blade. 
But there's fresher fame in store yet, 
Glory for the spade ! 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

What we want is nought in envy, 
Nought, — for all \x& pioneer; 
Let the keels of every nation 

Through the Isthmus steer. 

Write the tidings on a pillar 
That the Law of Nations, hear ! 
E'en in war, proclaims this channel 
Free for all and clear. 

Shall the globe be always girded 
Ere we get to Brahma's priest ? 
Take the tissues of your Lowells 
Westward to the East. 

Ye that vanquish pain and distance, 
Ye, en-meshing Time with wire. 
Court ye patiently for ever 
Yon Antarctic ire ? 

Shall the mariner for ever 
Double the impeding Capes, 
While his longsome and retracing 
Needless course he shapes ? 

Let the vastness not appall thee; 
Greatness is thy destiny ; 
Let the doubters not recall thee ; 
Venture suits the free. 

Like a seer I see thee throning 
Winland ! strong in freedom's health; 
Warding peace on both the waters, 
Widest Commonwealth — 

Crowned w^ith wreaths that still grow greener. 
Guerdon for untiring pain, 
For the wise, the stout and steadfast ; 
Rive the land in twain ! 



Z^Z 



324 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

Cleave America asunder ! 
This is worthy work for thee ; 
Hark ! the seas roll up imploring 
" Make the ocean free ! " 



MR. HELPER TO CONSUL CAHILL. 

St. Louis, September i, 1879. 
Hon. John F. Cahill, 

Consul for Mexico^ St. Louis, Missouri. 

Dear Sir : Your brave championship of the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec as the best of all the proposed routes for a 
Ship Canal from the Gulf of Mexico, or from the Caribbean 
Sea, to the Pacific Ocean, is marked by so much unmistak- 
able sincerity and patriotism, that, to say the least, it justly 
inspires for your opinions a high degree of respect and 
confidence. Yet, as a comparatively silent but diligent stu- 
dent, during the last twenty odd years, of this vast and im- 
portant problem, I may frankly inform you that I have thus 
far failed to observe the adduction of any fact, or reason, or 
argument, from any source whatever, which would seem to 
be incontrovertibly conclusive in favor of Tehuantepec, as 
against Nicaragua and Darien. 

Just twenty-five years ago, that is to say in 1854, I crossed 
the Isthmus of Nicaragua ; since which time I have twice 
crossed the Isthmus of Darien ; and, judging from the gen- 
eral topographical features of those comparatively narrow 
necks of land, it is, with a sufficiency of money and skill and 
physical force and industry, perfectly practicable to cut and 
utilize a ship canal across one or the other, or both. Several 
of our able and distinguished naval officers, especially Rear 
Admiral Ammen, Commodore Schufeldt, Commanders Sel- 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 325 

fridge and Lull, and Lieutenant Collins, who have, from 
time to time, respectively, been commissioned by our Gov- 
ernment to examine those routes, with the object of ascer- 
taining, if possible, which is the better of the two for the 
purpose indicated, have reported favorably in either case, ac- 
cording to the line of their respective operations ; and the 
sterling character for veracity of these competent officers be- 
ing well established, there can be no question that all their 
reports are worthy of credence and acceptance to the fullest 
extent of their positive statements and recommendations. 
Nor, if one may form an opinion on the careful surveys and 
reports of such eminent engineers as Gen. Barnard and Col. 
Williams, do I doubt in the least the feasibility of a mari- 
time ship canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. 

Distance alone, however, distance of width, as it seems 
to me, is a very serious drawback to both Tehuantepec and 
Nicaragua, in comparison with Darien. A good ship ahvays 
dislikes and dreads the land, except when she is strongly 
attached and made fast to a friendly anchor or hawser. 
From Gulf to Ocean, across Tehuantepec, the distance is 
one hundred and seventy-three miles ; from the Caribbean 
to the Pacific, across Nicaragua, the distance is no less than 
one hundred and eighty-one miles ; while from Aspinwall to 
Panama, across Darien, the distance is only forty-six miles. 
These simple and undeniable facts certainly constitute a 
very powerful, if not irresistible, argument in favor of Darien. 
and more particularly so since the engineering difiicultie=. 
there apparent in nature's whimsical works, are probably no 
greater than those which would be encountered in corre- 
sponding lengths or breadths of land, or land and sections 
of zigzag and unserviceable river-bed, along either of the 
other routes. 

Still, though well pleased with the narrowest route, yet I 
am by no means so fixed in my predilections for Panama as 



-526 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

to be proof against conviction of the existence of a better 
place. Other conditions being equal, or even approximately 
so, I, as a citizen of the United States, should much prefer 
the geographical position of Tehuantepec, because of its 
greater proximity to all of our own eastern and southern and 
western seaports, as well as because of its being, 'for us, so 
much nearer Japah, China, India and Australia, and also 
because, in comparison with Nicaragua and Darien, it is gen- 
erally believed to possess very superior climatic and sanitary 
advantages. What I should now particularly like to see 
would.be the appointment at once, by the Government of the 
United States, of our own meritorious and far-famed Capt. 
Eads and two other first-class civil engineers, — no matter 
whether or not any one of them has ever seen either Annap- 
olis or West Point, — all new men in this business, as a.plen- 
ipotentiarv and decisive commission to examine together 
the three routes so much discussed, first Darien, then Nicar- 
agua, ana then Tehuantepec, and report, at the earliest con- 
venient day, the result of their joint labors and deliberations, 
stating unequivocally which of the three routes, under all the 
present anJ prospective circumstances of the times, com- 
mends itself to them, or to any two of them, Capt. Eads 
himself being one of the two, as being the. best^ and giving 
besides, in detail, the reasons which shall have led them to 
their conclusions. Then, as I feel fully persuaded, it would 
be entirely safe and proper for our own people, after having 
obtained all the necessary franchises and privileges, to go to 
work at once, by themselves exclusively, as an American 
company, and carefully avoiding all entangling European 
copartnerships, cut the canal, — a wide and deep and un- 
locked and unobstructed tide-level canal, if such a canal be 
fairly feasible, — without thenceforth ever deigning to listen 
to even so much as one more word on the subject of disputed 
or rival routes. 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 327 

If Mexico would but faithfully and efficiently cooperate 
with us, it is a weighty consideration whether, in a certain 
contingency, before or during or after the carrying out of 
any European-Panama project, we might not even go so 
far as to open at Tehuantepec an independent canal in 
sharply-defined and never-ending opposition to.Darien; 
provided the latter should, in any manner, so demean and 
un-Americanize herself as to forfeit the esteem and good 
will of the two great republics of North America. An in- 
tercontinental enterprise of huge dimensions, which I myself 
now have in hand, but the nature of which I need not here 
stop to explain, except to say that it is at least three times 
the magnitude of the proposed interoceanic canal, or, in 
other words, about thrice the size and grandeur of any one 
of our transcontinental railroads, wiJl, I trust, be success- 
fully undertaken and consummated, solely under American 
auspices, by American engineering, and with American 
capital, prior to the 1.4th day of October, 1892, which will 
be the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus's discovery 
of the New World ; and, so far as I am able to perceive, 
there is no good reason why a judicious and energetic em- 
ployment of the same mighty influences and forces of our 
own and sundry neighboring nationalities, may not secure 
to us, simultaneously, a superb and ever-enduring ship 
canal across Tehuantepec, or Nicaragua, or Darien. Zeal- 
ously entertaining these several views, I -have the honor to 
request that you will kindly oblige me with a condensed 
statement of what you yourself regard as the strongest and 
most convincing points of your own advocacy of the Tehu- 
antepec route ; and I shall also esteem it a special favor if 
you will be good enough to inform me, if you know, how 
the masses of the Mexican people themselves are now esti- 
mating and measuring this momentous matter. 

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER, 



328 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

It is with much regret that lack of space here prevents 
me from printing more than about one-half of an important 
reply which I have had the honor to receive from Consul 
Cahiil, in answer to the last foregoing letter. Hence, the 
frequent use of asterisks between the several extracts which 
constitute the following imperfect compendiupi of his 
views, in- support of the claims of Tehuantepec. 

H. R. H. 



CONSUL CAHILL TO MR. HELPER. 

Consulate of the Republic of Mexico, 
St. Louis, Missouri, September 3, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., 

Dear Sir: I have had the pleasure of receiving and 
reading, with great interest, your esteemed communication 
of the ist instant, in which you do me the honor of qualify- 
ing my unwavering advocacy of the Tehuantepec route as 
.being marked by unmistakable sincerity and patriotism. 
Before entering on the argumentative points of the very im- 
portant subject concerning which you have addressed me, 
permit me to say that, independently of the national repu- 
tation which your published works have achieved for you 
among the people of the United States, your name and 
•your labors in Central and South America, within the last 
•few years, have become so intimately and thoroughly iden- 
tified with all movements tending to the development of the 
vast resources of our Spanish-speaking neighbors, that, in 
addressing you, I feel at liberty to do so in the frankest pos- 
sible manner ; particularly as the subject under consideration 
is one of world-wide interc:;st, and involves many weighty 
questions, the present judicious decision of which may en- 
able us to avoid much future embarrassment and many 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 329 

grave complications with one or more of the transatlantic 
powers, under whose auspices it would appear that the grand 
work of Wedding the two great oceans has already, in a 
measure, been begun. 

Especially do you honor me in asking my opinion on this 
momentous matter, inasmuch as you must be aware that I 
am myself not an engineer, and have never surveyed nor 
even traversed either of the three mooted routes for the pro- 
posed interoceanic canal, which have, at different periods, 
during the last three hundred years, attracted the attention 
of the scientific world, and furnished a theme of profound 
study and investigation for the ablest engineers of both 
America and Europe. Yet, notwithstanding the lack of 
scientific acquirement and personal experience in this pro- 
jected enterprise, I have, like yourself, for several years past, 
been a close and painstaking student of all the commercial 
problems connected with the prosperity of my own country 
and iTer natural alHes and neighbors, the Republics of 
Mexico and Central and South America ; and, as the editor 
of El Cbmercio del Valle, a Spanish and English newspaper, 
which I founded in this city, nearly four years ago, with the 
cherished object of bringing into closer and more friendly 
intercourse the peoples of the United States and those of 
all Spanish America, the field of my observation and 
the scope of my experience have, in some degree, 
compensated for the absence of the scientific knowledge 
which may, by many, be deemed necessary to give weight 
and value to opinions on a subject upon which regularly 
educated engineers are supposed to exercise an almost 
exclusive right to be heard. 

I am myself a firm believer in the infallibility of science, 
but not in the infallibility of scientific men ; for whose opin- 
ions, however, I entertain the highest respect. With you, 
sir, I fully concur in the belief that, with a sufficiency of 



330 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

money, a ship canal may be cut across either or all three of 
the isthmuses,— Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, and Darien ; but 
there are other considerations to be regarded, which, in my 
opinion, are of far greater importance than the mere differ- . 
ence of a few millions of dollars in the comparative cost of 
these several routes. It is quite probable, though, that 
these considerations, which I will now explain, have greater 
weight with me, as an American, than they are likely to 
have with citizens or subjects of any transatlantic country. 
In the first place, while admitting he apparent advantage of 
the Darien route in point of narrowness, it has been, time 
and again, demonstrated that the serious difficulties to be 
encountered in the excavations, the large amount of tunnel- 
linfT necessary to be done, and the very notorious and fatal 
unhealthfulness of the climate, together with the incalcula- 
bly great cost, constitute grave, if not insurmountable, 
obstacles to its selection as the best route. Again, the per- 
sistent advocacy of the isthmus of Darien by certain. Euro- 
pean governments and capitalists, and the recent selection 
of this route by M. De Lesseps' Congress at Paris, which 
refused even to consider the claims and merits of the other 
routes, by way respectively of Tehuantepec and Nicaragua, 
is but another strenuous effort on the part of our rivals of. 
the Old World, to perpetuate their control over the com- 
merce of South and Central America, at the expense and 
debarment of the United States. 

You, sir, in the able communication which, while at Lima, 
in Peru, in the early part of last year, you addressed to the 
Hon. Richard W. Thompson, our-"Secretary of the Navy, at 
Washington, have not failed to observe the omnipresence ot 
European influence throughout the southern hemisphere ; 
and the following passage in that letter, which I had the 
pleasure of reproducing in the columns of my newspaper, 
many months before I had the honor of making your 



MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 33 1 

acquaintance, or knowing that you entertained any intention 
of ever coming to reside in the valley of the Mississippi, 
cannot be' read too often, nor learned too well, by the 
.people of the United States. * * * 

Inasmuch as Darien, in comparison with Tehuantepec, is 
from one to two thousand miles further from our Atlantic 
and Gulf seaports, it is correspondingly nearer to the sea- 
ports of many of the European countries, whose commercial 
supremacy and political sway have ever been hostile to the 
promotion of intimate relations of any kind between the 
United States and the many independent nationalities which 
lie to the south of us. It is manifest, therefore, that a ship 
canal at Darien would miHtate against the interests of the 
people of both North and South America. The Nicaragua 
route does not present, in so forcible a manner, the geo- 
graphical disadvantages of Darien ; but it is too remote from 
the coasts of the two great republics of North America, and 
is, besides, a longer and more difficult and expensive route 
than that by way of the isthmus of Tehuantepec ; necessi- 
tating the cooperation of the two diminutive republics of 
Costa Rica and Nicaragua, which have heretofore invariably 
maintained toward each other an irreconcilable spirit of 
jealous rivalry in this regard. Holding in view the following 
extract from a report made in the year 1866, by Rear Admi- 
ral Davis, of the United States Navy, it would seem to be a 
waste of time to devote further consideration to Nicaragua 
as an eligible route for a ship canal, since we have at Tehu- 
antepec a much safer and healthier and better point for the 
meeting of the waters of the two mighty oceans. * * * 

In considering the important question of severing the two 
great Americas, and thereby uniting the two great Oceans, 
by the construction of a ship canal hat will satisfy all the 
demands of the world's commerce, and become at the same 
time a. fitting and perpetual monument to the superior 



332 MISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 

genius and civilization of die American people, my reasons 
for preferring Tehuantepec over all the other proposed 
routes, may be briefly summed up by stating that it is much 
nearer to all our ports. Moreover, it is shorter than Nicara- 
gua, and not more expensive than Darien. Again, there is 
another reason, of a sanitary nature, which, when thoroughly 
investigated, will, in my opinion, at once lead to the adop- 
tion of the Tehuantepec route, to the proper exclusion of 
all other claims and propositions on the part of individuals, 
localities and nations. * * * 

It is perfectly plain that the people whose real interests 
the cutting of the canal will most affect, either by promotion 
or depression, are the inhabitants of the United States and 
Mexico, and more especially the indwellers of the Missis- 
sippi Valley ; and, as I have endeavored to show, nature 
points unerringly to the isthmus of Tehuantepec as the 
most proper place for the interoceanic communication thus 
sought. There, without obstruction, the Mississippi would 
flow freely into the pacific ; and it is there that already its yel- 
low waters are often seen, endeavoring to cut their own way 
to the great western ocean, into which, if given passage, 
they will pour most of the fever-engendering and mortifer- 
ous matters which, during the process of gradual dissolu- 
tion and decay, annually fill so many of our fair cities with 
disease and death on the one hand, and with financial dis- 
aster and ruin on the other. The early cutting of a ship 
canal across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, no matter how 
great the cost which may be unavoidably necessary for the 
full and perfect accomplishment of the object, will, as I con- 
ceive, be the only wise solution of a stupendous problem 
which now largely involves the welfare of the whole com- 
mercial world. This vast enterprise, as it seems to me, is 
one which should receive the immediate attention and aid 
of the Government of the United States ; and it is but reason- 



^IISCELLANEOUS ODDMENTS. 333 

able to believe that it would be warmly approved and en- 
couraged by the Republic of Mexico, through whose favored 
territory the proposed canal would pass. * * * 
Yours, very respectfully, 

JOHN F. CAHILL. 



IMPERIAL BRAZIL 

AS THE 

Diplomatic Deceiver and Despoiler 

OF AN 

UNSUSPECTING FAMILY OF 
Straightforward and Confiding Dennocrats, 

WHO, IN -AUGUST, 1867, WERE SO 

Rash and Unrepublican and Reprehensible 

AS TO 

PUT THEIR FAITH IN PRINCES; 

AN 

Epistolary and 

Documentary History of the Double-faced 

and Underhanded Injustice and Injury Inflicted on 

;ERNEST FIEDLER, his WIDOW, AND CHILDREN, 

Citizens of the Republic of the United States of 

America, by the Government of the 

Empire of Brazil. 

A BRIEF OF THE CASE, 

By 

HINTON ROWAN HELPER, 

Who, as the Attorney for his woefully wronged and outracred Clients, 
respectfully presents to the Honor observing and Equity-enforcing 
Congress of his own Countiy, at Washington, the accompanying Claim 
for Rightful Reparation and Damages. 

ST. LOUIS: 
Septejiber 29, 1879. 



A MEMORIAL. 

FROM 

HELEN M. FIEDLER, EXECUTRESS OF THE LAST WILL 
AND TESTAMENT OF ERNEST FIEDLER, A CITI- 
ZEN OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED 
STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST 
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE 
EMPIRE OF BRAZIL. 



To the Honorable the Senators and Representatives of 

the United States of America i?i Congress Assembled : 

Gentlemen: Your petitioner, Helen M. Fiedler, of the 
city of New York, Executress of the last Will and Testa- 
ment of Ernest Fiedler, formerly of St. Louis, in Missouri, 
but more latterly of the' State of New York, begs leave, 
through the mediumship of her attorney, Hinton R. Helper, 
recently of North Carolina, but now of the State of Missouri, 
to whom she has herein given the fullest and most perfect 
and irrevocable powers of discretionary action in her behalf,, 
to apprise your honorable body of the details of a series of 
very gross and grievous wrongs, which, during the last 
twelve years, she has suffered at the hands of the Brazilian 
Government, in contumacy, and to solicit from you such 
early and rightful legislation in the premises as will soon re- 
sult in reasonable reparation for all the wrongs so inflicted. 

The whole case, at least in most of its important facts 
and bearings, is so fully explained in the following some- 
what voluminous correspondence between your petitioner's 
said attorney and other gentlemen directly and indirectly 
connected with the reclamation, as prosecutors, defendants, 
que.ists, informants, and diplomatists, that she deem: it 



338 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

quite unnecessary to reproduce here the Ijroad nnd valid 
grounds of her great grievance. The documentary infor- 
mation and evidence herewith submitted for the considera- 
tion of your honorable body, will prove conclusively that 
the bad iiihevitance, in part, which a good husband and 
father has thus left to his widow and children, is in no 
respect w^hatever attributable to any neglect or other fault of 
his own ; but only to the cruel duplicities and subterfuges 
of an anachronistic and mislocated empire, which, though 
in fact so effeminate and frail and fraudful as to be thor- 
oughly despicable, yet blushes not to make supercilious pre- 
tensions to the possession of special virtues in its form and 
administration of government. 

So long as your petitioner's husband, who was really 
upright and worthy in all his relatit)ns with mankind, did 
business only with free and white citizens who were the out- 
growth of the democratic and republican institutions or 
North America, his career was one of gradual and uninter- 
rupted success; but from the very moment when he was, as 
if by inveiglement, first brought in contact with servile and 
sable subjects of the Brazilian Empire, who, as agents for 
the government of that country, commenced to practice 
against him the vile arts of insincerity and dissimulation 
and double-dealing, which are invariably characteristic ot 
all peoples among whom, as in Brazil, monarchy and Jesuitry 
and bi-colored hybridity are locked hand in hand in the 
enforcement and perpetuation of a complex system of sheer 
despotism over both body and mind, from that very moment 
his usual prosperity and vivacity began to forsake him ; and, 
as if by a strangely inexplicable and irresistible spell, becom- 
ing more and more entangled within the meshes of evil thus 
woven around him, he, though comparatively yet young, 
soon sickened and died. 

Almost mysteriously, indeed, as between the baleful blan- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



339 



dishments of the Brazilians on the one hand, and their bluff 
baseness on the other, the husband of your petitioner 
seemed 'to be absolutely benumbed and blasted, as if, una- 
wares and instantly, the virus of a most venomous serpent 
had been mjected into his veins without his ability to sum- 
mon to his relief any remedy whatever, or even hope of 
recovery. It was, in truth, as if all at once he had been 
awakened to the worst realities of a horrible dream ; for, 
up to the uniformly happy period of his life thus referred to, 
just prior to his transactions with the Brazilian Government, 
he had always firmly refused to believe in the existence of 
any such depth of human depravity as then, for the first 
time, revealed itself to him, and against him, through the 
mancBuvres of various wily functionaries fresh from the 
imperial and pestilential palace at Rio de Janeiro. Innately 
and scrupulously honest and truthful himself, and always 
accustomed to deal only with considerate and just-minded 
men, he was totally unprepared, by either propensity or 
experience, to cope with the presumptuous prevarication and 
perfidy of the BraziUan agents, into whose pernicious power 
he had so unsuspectingly fallen. So appalling and over- 
whelming was both the bulk and the blackness of the turpi- 
tude thus brought to bear against him, that he was as com- 
pletely stunned by the shock as if his whole system had 
been suddenly struck with paralysis of the worst sort ; and 
it was under these circumstances, and in this situation, that, 
as if rendered comatose under a shuddering sensation of 
soul-sickening surprise, he staggered amid the mazes of a 
profound stupor, stumbled and fell, and never rose again. 

Gentlemen of the American Congress : Your petitioner is 
perfectly aware that, in the very nature of things, it is impos- 
sible for you to restore to her or to her children the natural 
guardian and protector of a forlorn family, whom Brazil has 
most basely bereft of a husband on the one hand, and of a 



340 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

father on the oher ; but it is within the power of your honorable 
body to redress, in part at least, the rank injustice of bad 
faith and financial default of which she and others near and 
dear to her have been made the victims, and of which she 
here earnestly complains. So far as it may be possible for 
the imperial and profligate Brazilians to repair the great 
wrongs which they have perpetrated against her, she respect- 
fully entreats that you will constrain them to do so ; for, in 
this regard, it is now manifest that, without constraint, with- 
out compulsion, they will still wilfully persist in the course of 
injury and outrage which they have so long pursued against 
her. 

Collaterally with the simple and substantial facts of the 
chartering by the agents of the Brazilian Government of 
your petitioner's husband's steamship Circassian, and upon 
which full and ample facts, of themselves alone, she bases 
her just claim for compensation and indemnity, she would 
also specifically invite the attention of your honorable body 
to certain very strong points of legal and diplomatic similar- 
ity between this reclamation and the claim of Mr. Joseph H. 
Colton, of New York, against the Government of Bolivia, 
which is herewith printed and bound. The admonitions 
and mandates of international law in the one case are pre- 
cisely the same as in the other; and, gentlemen, as you may 
readily and conveniently perceive for yourselves, by refer- 
ence to the index at the close of this volume, those same ad- 
monitions and mandates have been very carefully collated 
and clearly cited, by your petitioner's attorney, (who was alsa 
Mr. Colton's attorney,) from the standard works of Grotius, 
Puffendorf, Vattel, Phillimore, Wildman, Marshall, Kent, 
Wheaton, Woolsey, Halleck, Curtis, Field, Evarts, and other 
erudite and distinguished publicists. 

The whole matter, in whatever form or condition it may 
be found, now or hereafter, has been intrusted to your peti- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



341 



tioner's permanent and plenipotentiary attorney, Mr. Hel- 
per, with whom alone any and all questions and considera- 
tions and interests concerning it, may be definitely and 
finally settled. Your petitioner's said attorney will inform 
your honorable body, as he has already informed herself, of 
an incalculably significant and responsible dilemma in which 
he has been placed by several of the more enlightened and 
progressive subjects of Brazil, who, in their patriotic desire 
to rescue their country from the blighting influences of 
monarchy and Jesuitry and slavery, and also from the inertia 
and blackness and abomination of negroism and Indianism 
and Chineseism and bi-colored hybridism, have secretly and 
informally, but ardently, urged him to make use of the pe- 
culiar, if not providential, position and vantage-ground he 
now occupies, for assisting them to overthrow the demoral- 
ized and nerveless Empire, and to establish in its stead a 
virtuous and vigorous and advancive Republic ; they having 
promised him, so far as it was competent for them to en- 
gage themselves to the fulfillment of such a promise, that, 
if he will, to the best of his abiHty, so aid them, by his pen, 
and otherwise as he himself may elect and find opportunity, 
he shall, within one year after the subversion of the pro- 
slaveiy and pro-negro and imperial and priestly power, re- 
ceive from the White Republic twice the amount of his 
claim against the Black Empire. 

This premature and anomalistic proposition your peti- 
tioner's attorney has neither accepted nor rejected; but, 
•having in contemplation this very memorial to your honor- 
able body, and confidently counting on the reasonable and 
right results which justice warrants him in expecting to issue 
from it, he has simply informed the proponents, (with whom, 
however, his best wishes are warmly associated,) that he has 
not yet exhausted all amicable or semi-amicable efforts 
which the laws and usages of nations provide for cases of 



342 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

this kind ; and that, until all such efforts, of which this is 
the last, shall have been regularly made in good f:xith, and 
positively repelled, he has nothing further to remark on this 
subject. So saying, your humble petitioner again especially 
and earncbtly solicits the intervention of your honorable 
body for justice to herself and children, as against Brazil, 
and sincerely hopes that her said attorney, in his constant 
devotion to her rights and interests, may never have any oc- 
casion to burden himself with the weighty and perilous con- 
tingencies of the ultimate and revolutionary resource thus 
apprehended. 

HELEN M. FIEDLER, Claimant. 
By Jicr Atfoffiey, 

HiNTON R. Helper. 



St. Louis, Missouri, > 
September 29, 1879. \ 



MR. HELPER TO MR. JORDAN. 

New York, May 2, 1876. 
Hon. Edward Jordan. 

Dear Sir: Aware as I am of your perfect familiarity 
with all the facts and circumstances of the claim of Ernest 
Fiedler against the Government of Brazil, growing out of the 
chartering by Domingo de Goicouria, an agent of Brazil for 
purposes of Lnmigration. of the steamship Circassian belong- 
ing to the claimant, in August, 1867, permit me to request 
that you will be kind enough to favor me, at your earliest 
convenience, with a synopsis of the whole case, as it stands 
to-day. 

I make this request because, as you are aware, I have my- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



343 



self been commissioned to proceed in person to Rio de Jan- 
eiro, with the object of bringing this matter to a final adjust- 
ment; and I wish, ther-efore, to obtain possession of every 
fact and argument which may be righdy urged in support of 
the claim. 

With the degree of light which I already have on this sub- 
ject, I am unable to comprehend any principles of interna- 
tional law or equity upon which Brazil has so long fiiiled 
to recognize the justice of the claim, and the consequent ob- 
ligation resting upon herself to indemnify the claimant for 
the heavy expenses and losses which he and his vessel were 
subjected to in her service, at her own solicitation. 
Yours, very respectfully 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. JORDAN TO MR. HELPER. 

New York, May 6, 1876. 
HiNTON Rowan Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In reply to your letter of the 2d instant, 
making inquiry in regard to the claim of Helen M, Fiedler, 
as Executrix of Ernest Fiedler, decea'sed, against the Gov- 
ernment of Brazil, I make the following statement : 

In the year 1867, application was made to the said Ern- 
est Fiedler, then the sole owner of the steamship Circassian, 
by Domingo de Goicouria, who claimed to be an agent of 
Emigration in the United States for the Brazilian Govern- 
ment, to charter the said steamship for a voyage from New 
Orleans to Rio de Janeiro, to transport emigrants from the 
United States to the Empire of Brazil. Before entering into 
such a transaction, however, Mr. Fiedler desired to be as- 
sured of the authority of Mr. Goicouria to act for the Bra- 



344- 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



zilian Government in the premises, and for that purpose 
made inquiries on the subject, when he was shown by the 
said Goicouria a power of attorney from Quintino de Souza 
Bocayuva, fully authorizing the said Goicouria to exercise 
all the powers of the said Bocayuva as agent of Emigration 
for the Brazilian Government, and learned that the authority 
of both the said Bocayuva and the said Goicouria, to charter 
vessels for the conveyance of emigrants from the United 
States to Brazil, had already been recognized by the Bra- 
zilian Government, and had been expressly affirmed by the 
head of the Brazilian Legation in the United States, Mr. 
Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, when applied to for information 
on the subject, and in particular that the steamer Catherine 
Whiting had, only a short time previously, completed a voy- 
age under a charter-party executed by the said Goicouria in 
all substantial respects similar to the one iiroposed for the 
steamer Circassian, and on which the charter-money had 
been paid by the Brazilian authorities. The statement of 
the Brazilian Minister was contained in a letter dated March 
13, 1867, and was very explicit, as follows : 

" The agent of the Brazilian Immigration is Mr. Quin- 
*' tino de Souza Bocayuva. This gentleman has power to 
" charter sailing vessels or steamers to take emigrants from 
" the South part of the United States to Brazil. According 
"to the contract made between the Imperial Government 
" and the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company, 
" he can have a delegate, and Mr. Domingo de Goicouria is 
"the delegate appointed by him. I believe the Brazilian 
" Government will approve what is done by the said agent." 

On the faith of this assurance, the owners of the steam- 
ship Marmion, acting through Mr. Russell Sturgis, to whom 
the letter of the Brazilian Minister was addressed, on the 
day after its date, to-wit, on the i6th of March, 1867, en- 
tered into a charter party with the said Goicouria lor the 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 345 

making of a voyage by the said steamship Marmion, upon 
terms also substantially similar to those expressed in the 
charter-party of the Circassian, which voyage was performed ; 
the charter-money provided for was paid by the Govern- 
ment of Brazil, and the said steamship had returned to New 
York a considerable time prior to the chartering of the Cir- 
cassian. , 

Being thus fully satisfied of the authority of Mr. Goicou- 
ria, Mr. Fiedler, on the 21st of August, 1867, entered into a 
charter-party, by which it was provided that the said steam- 
ship Circassian, which was then on a voyage from New York 
to Bremen, should make a voyage from New Orleans to 
Rio de Janeiro, sailing from New Orleans on the 15th day 
of November, 1867, unless detained at Bremen or elsewhere 
by causes beyond the control of the said Fiedler, in which 
case she should sail within ten days after her arrival at New 
Orleans. The said charter-pcirty also contained provisions 
in regard to which the steamship was to be kept, the sup- 
plies with which she was to be furnished, and other matters 
of importance, which it is not necessary here to notice, but 
which are definitely shown by the charter-party itself, a copy 
of which is among the papers. The following facts, how- 
ever, are material to a full understanding of the grounds of 
the present claim, and of the frivolous objections which 
have thus far been urged against it. The said Goicouria 
was to be allowed ten running days for loading and discharg- 
ing the said vessel, and was to pay the said Fiedler the sum 
of three hundred and fifty American , gold dollars for every 
day the said vessel was detained beyond the time so allowed. 
He was to provide the said steamship with passengers in the 
steerage, not to exceed six hundred in number, and to pay the 
said Fiedler for the hire of the said vessel the sum of forty- 
two thousand A.merican gold dollars, or the equivalent 
thereof in millreis, ten days after the completion of the voy- 



346 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

age, and sixty American gold d^'Nrs in addition, for each' 
cabin passenger ; and the said parties respectively b;)und. 
themselves each to the other for the performance of all the 
covenants and agreements of the said charter-party, in the 
penal sum of the charter-money, $42,000 in gold. 

Immediately after the execution of this charter-party, Mr. 
Fiedler notified the master of the said steamship, Capt. 
Thomas S. Ellis, by letter addressed to him at Bremen, of 
the making thereof, and instructed him to purchase there 
certain necessary stores for the conteniplated voyage, and ta 
bring the vessel home to enter upon it, in accordance with, 
the stipulations of the charter-jxirty. 

With thesj instructions the master, Capt. Ellis, complied,, 
purchasing provisions and stores to the amount of about 
three thousand dollars, and returning to New York with the 
steamship at the earliest practicable day after the execution 
of the said charter-party. 

The Circassian arrived in New York on the 2d of 
November, 1867, when it was found that she needed certain 
important repairs and alterations to fit her for the contem- 
plated voyage; and these were made with the utmost prac- 
ticable dispatch, and at a cost of over twelve thousand dol 
lars ; the greater portion of which, as testified by Captain 
Ellis himself, was indispensably required by the special ser- 
vice for which the vessel had been chartered. So soon as 
these necessary repairs and alterations were completed, 
namely, on the 23rd of November, the steamship sailed for 
New Orleans, proceeding thither without touching at any 
other port, and without unavoidable dtlay, and arrived there, 
on the 6th day Oi December following ; when she was at: 
once put at the disposal of the Agent of the Brazilian 
Government, pursuant to the specific conditions of the. 
charter-party. 

While undergoing repairs in New York, the steamship 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



347 



received onboard a small amount of cargo for New Orleans ; 
but this in no way retarded her departure for that city, nor 
prevented 'her fiom being in readiness to enter upon the 
service to which she was engaged, until after the expiration 
of the lay days provided for in the charter-party ; but no 
passengers having been furnished for her, Capt. Ellis, repre- 
senting the owner, Mr. Fiedler, demanded demurrage, in 
accordance with the agreement embodied in the charter- 
party ; but as no demurrage was paid, he rightly protested 
against all concerned. 

In this dubious position of affairs, it appears that one 
Cestuo, another Brazilian, to whom Mr Goicouria (who in 
the meantime had been displaced,) had committed the 
interests of the Agency, wished — and actually gave direc- 
tions accordingly — that Mr. Fiedler should dispatch the 
Circassian to Rio de Janeiro, anyhow, and then claim the 
$42,000 charter-money. This, however, the latter, as an 
honest man, was unwilling to do, as under the circumstan- 
ces the sending her thither would be manifestly without good 
results to the Brazilian Government; and he therefore 
addressed a letter, under date of December 17, 1867, to the 
Chevalier L. A. P. Fleury, Charge d' Affaires of Brazil, set- 
ting forth the circumstances of the case, and saying, " I now 
address myself to you, as Charge d' Affaries of the Impe- 
rial Government, to advise me. Shall I send the Circassian 
to Rio de Janeiro, chartered as stated above, without any 
or perhaps only a few passengers, and thereby lay the Gov- 
ernment under obUgations to pay me $42,000 in gold, or 
\vill you take the matter in hand and relieve me from my 
dilemma?" and in regard to the remuneration claimed by 
him, he added, " The expenses so far incurred, in preparing^ 
the vessel for such a long and costly voyage, already amount 
to about $20,000. Reimbursement of this sum would per- 
haps be preferable to the incurrence of an obligation to pay 



348 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

$42,000 in gold, now equal to about $55,000 currency." 
In reply to this letter, Mr. Fiedler received one from the 
Imperial Charge d' Affaires, dated on the i8th of Decem- 
ber, 1867, which, after briefly reciting the facts of the case, 
concluded as follows: 

" I advise you not to allow the steamer to sail, but to con- 
sider the charter-party as completely null and void. I shall 
immediately call the attention of my Government to ♦the 
subject, and will ask it to take into consideration the sum 
which you claim as due to yourself, and to indemnify you 
for the losses sustained." 

Accordingly the Chevalier Flcury did, promptly, as 
appears by a letter of his dated on the loth of March, 1868, 
present this matter to his Government; but no action, or at 
least no decision thereon, seems to have been had until late 
in the year .870, as is shown by a letter from the Hon. 
Henry 1\ Blow, our Minister to Brazil, whose friendly offices, 
in support of the claim, had been invoked, and who informed 
Mr. Fiedler that the Brazilian Government positively asserted 
that neither Mr. Goicouria nor the party authorizing him, 
(Mr. Bocayuva,) had any authority whatever from it to act 
in the manner they did ; and that consequently no claim 
against it could be considered as having arisen out of the 
acts of either of them. Mr. Blow, however, in the clear- 
ness and correctness of his judgment, remarked that this 
Brazilian allegation did not actually prove that those Brazil- 
ian subjects were not authorized Brazilian agents, — ^just 
such agents as they themselves represented themselves to 
be, — and added that, if Mr. Fiedler could prove that any 
charter or charters made by eidier of those parties had ever 
been allowed, and the money paid thereon by the Brazilian 
Government, he was sure that he could obtain from that 
Government the amount Mr. Fiedler was willing to accept ; 
. Rt the same time suggesting that such proofs might perhaps 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 349 

be obtained from shipowners in New York, through the 
Consul who was acting for the Brazilian Government at the 
time the charter, was made. 

Not very long after this, Mr. Fiedler departed this life ; 
but his widow and executrix having obtained specific evi- 
dence of the very conclusive circumstances hereinbefore 
detailed, showing the recognition of the authority of Mr. 
Goicouria, Mrs. Fiedler, in April, 1873, through her attor- 
neys, Jordan and Whitney, of New York, addressed a com- 
munication to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State 
of the United States, giving a statement of the facts relat- 
ing to this claim, and invoking the aid of the Department 
of State in obtaining justice and satisfaction from the Gov- 
ernment of Brazil; which communication, together with the 
papers with which it was accompanied, was properly trans- 
mitted by the Secretary of State to the Minister of the 
United States at Rio de Janeiro, with instructions to use his 
friendly offices in endeavoring to procure a settlement of 
the claim. 

It was not until some time in the early part of the year 
1875, that an answer was obtained from the Government of 
Brazil, and on the i6th of March of that year the Secretary 
of State of the United States addressed to the attorneys of 
Mrs. Fiedler a letter inclosing a copy of a Report of the 
Council of State of Brazil, wherein cunningly framed objec- 
tions were made to the claim, which I will now proceed to 
notice. 

In the first place, the authors of the Report reiterate the 
denial of the authority of Bocayuva, as w^ell as of Goicouria, 
to charter vessels of any kind; and, with a view to justifying 
this denial, they make a statement of the alleged purpose 
of the BraziUan Government in its efforts to attract immi- 
gration from the United States, and certain correspondence 
on the. subject between that Government, its Legation, in the 



:5^ 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



United States, and Mr. Bocayuva, all of which is altogether 
irrelevant, inasmuch as there is not the slightest evidence or 
intimation that any knowledge of these matters was ever 
CO iTiiunicated to Mr. Fiedler. It is worthy of remark, 
however, that the very statement made to disprove the au- 
thority of Goicouria tends, on the contrary, strongly to es- 
tal)lisli it; or, at all events, to show that Mr. Fiedler was 
fully warranted in accepting and acting on the evidence of 
authority given to him ; since it shows, first, that no written 
instructions were given to Bocayuva; and second, that the 
Brazilian Government was duly notified of the substitution 
of Goicouria by Bocayuva, and must, therefore, in the ab- 
sence of any protest against this act, be held to have ratified 
it; ail J, finally, that when Goicouria came to be officially 
discharged, (and how co.ild he be discharged from a posi- 
tion he never held?) it appears expressly that it was from the 
duty " to freight steamers for the transportation of emigrants." 
I submit that this shows very plainly that the Brazilian Gov- 
ernment itself understood and admitted not only that Goi- 
couria was the legal substitute of Bocayuva, but also that he, 
as such substitute, had power to charter steamers. 

Yet, as I have remarked, all this is comparatively imma- 
terial, since the acts of the Brazilian Government, known to 
Mr. Fiedler, at the time he entered into the charter-party, 
were a sufficient affirmance of the authority of the agent, 
which authority Avas furthermore expressly affirmed by the 
head of the Brazilian Legation in the United States. 

The Brazilian Council of State insist that Mr. Fiedler 
should have demanded the power of attorney, or other 
proper document, under which the agent was acting. To 
this the reply is, that he did apply to Mr. Goicouria for the 
.evidence of his authority, and that he was shown a power 
of attorney conferring upon the substitute all the power of 
Mr. Bocayuva. He did not apply to the latter for evidence 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



351 



of his authority, for the very good reason that he was not 
then in this country; but he did go to the Charge d' Affaires 
of Brazil, -or, what is the same thing, he ascertained that 
others had appUed to him and obtained assurances that 
Bocayuva had power to charter sailing vessels or steamers ; 
that Bocayuva could have a delegate, and that Mr. Domingo 
de Goicouria was the delegate appointed by him. Upon 
this the Imperial Council of State declare first, that here was 
no affirmance that Mr. Goicouria had the power to take 
up steamers ; to which, in view of the terms of the letter of 
the Charge d' Affaires I do not feel called upon to make 
any reply ; and second, that, at any rate the Charge d' Affaires 
was not the proper person to supply information on 
this subject; to which I answer, that I do not think 
the head of the Brazilian Government can honestly take 
the same view, especially as the papers quoted by the 
Report show that the Imperial Legation was actually 
charged with the supervision of the definite measures, 
whatever they were, of that Government, on this subject. 
I cannot permit myself to believe that the illustrious Em- 
peror who has given to the world so many and such striking 
proofs of his wisdom and justice, will ever attempt to evade 
responsibility for contracts made with his acknowledged 
agents on the faith of expHcit assurances of the representa- 
tive of his government as to the extent and fullness of those 
agents' powers. Should he do so, I conceive that it will be 
of httle avail to attempt to effect by argument either his rea- 
son or his conscience. 

In the next place, the Report seems to suggest that the 
charter-party was inoperative for want of certainty as to the 
time when the steamer was to be in New Orleans, and, in 
this connection, misrepresents, — unintentionally perhaps, — 
the simple terms of the charter-party. Those terms were 
-reasonable and explicit, namely, that the steamship, which 



352 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

was then on a voyage to Bremen, should sail from New Or- 
leans on the 15th day of November, 1867, unless detained 
at Bremen, or elsewhere, by causes beyond the control of 
Mr. Fiedler, in which case she was to sail within ten days 
after her arrival at New Orleans. Yet the Imperial Coune'l 
of State aver, in one place, that " the contract did not fix a 
" time within which the steamer, which had first to make a 
" voyage to Bremen, and then might make others that might 
''suit, had to present herself in New Orleans;" and, in an- 
other, uses the following language: "The steamer, being 
" chartered on the 21st of August, with liberty first to make a 
" long voyage to Bremen" (as if she were not then in the 
actual performance of that voyage,) ''and after that, again 
" to carry a cargo from N'ew York to an intermediate port, 
" and thence again to New Orleans." A fair inspection of 
the charter-party will show that there is nothing at all to 
be found therein of tlu kind stated above in the passages 
in italics, and that the supposed uncertainty in the instru- 
ment is by no means in that itself, but only in the account 
given of it by the Imperial Council of State. 

And, lastly, the Council insist that, in any event, the 
amount to which the claimant is entitled is far less than 
twenty thousand dollars. 

In considering this point, however, it is to be observed 
that the Report admits that, if the charter-party is to be 
considered valid, the failure to furnish immigrants for the 
vessel authorized the owner to consider the charter-party as 
" concluded," or to make the voyage without passengers, at 
the expense of the hirer. Now, in truth, this charter-party 
icas valid to all intents and purposes, and was binding upon 
the Brazilian Government, and, as admitted by the Imperial 
Council of State, Mr. Fiedler had a right, on the failure of 
the agent of that Government to furnish the immigrants 
whose transportation was the object of the contemplated 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 353 

voyage, either to make the voyage, nevertheless, at the un- 
diminished expense of the Brazilian Government, such ex- 
pense being of course the $42,000 charter money agreed 
upon, or, as the Imperial Council of State themselves say, 
to " consider the charter-party as concluded." In law and 
equity Mr. Fiedler certainly had a right to recognize the fact 
that, by the default of the BraziUan Government, the pur- 
poses of the voyage had been defeated ; and to consider 
himself, therefore, as having been prevented by such default 
from its performance, and for that reason to abandon it, and 
look to Brazil for indemnity for the losses he sustained in 
consequence of its being broken up. Especially was this 
true after the refusal to pay demurrage, and after the advice 
and promises of the Brazilian Charge d' Affaires, which lat- 
ter only recognized and reinforced rights which previously 
existed. Of the two courses thus open to Mr. Fiedler, it i.^. 
manifest that the latter was the one the least onerous to 
Brazil, and, as he believed, the most just ; and accordingly 
that was the one which he adopted. 

Under these circumstances, the question was, and is 
simply. What did Mr. Fiedler lose by reason of the non- 
fulfillment of the contract by Brazil; or Vv'hat is the same 
thing, by the Agent of that Government, and the consequent 
breaking up of the voyage ? With a view to the proper 
determination of this question, the subject may be consid- 
ered in various Hghts ; as, for instance, the inquiry may be,. 
AVhat loss did Mr. Fiedler in fact sustain by reason of his 
entering into the charter-party, taking into account all the 
actual circumstances attending its execution ; the prosecu- 
tion of the voyage up to the time of its abandonment with 
the heavy expenses incurred, and the immediate and pro- 
longed consequences resulting from the sudden and unex- 
pected deprivation of employment? If this criterion were 
taken in all its amplitude, it is manifest, from the proof in 

22 



354 1"HE FIEDLER CLAIM 

the case, that Mr. Fiedler's demand would far exceed the 
sum total of the cliarter money ; and it is therefore of 
course not insisted on. 

In this connection, it may likewise be proper to notice two 
or tiiree points made in the Report of the Imperial Council 
of State in regard to the expenses, that those of the voyage 
to Bremen, and those of the repairs for damages suffered in 
that voyage, and " expenses also for, or at, the intermediate 
port for which the Circassian took cargo " from New York, 
are in no case properly chargeable against Brazil. In reply, 
it needs only to be remarked, as to the last point, that the 
expenses thereupon, as has been shown, were v/holly imagi- 
nary ; and, as to the other points, that there is no claim that 
any expenses whatever are chargeable to this voyage except 
such as were incurred especially on its account; that the 
evidence appears to demonstrate that the sum total of the 
expenses so incurred amounted to at least twenty thousand 
dollars; but that those expenses, all told, are by no means 
the full measure of Mr. Fiedler's loss, or of his rightful claim 
upon the Brazilian Government. 

Again, disregarding all consideration of actual expenses? 
or consequential losses, the inquiry may be, simply, What 
profit, over and above the expenses properly chargeable to 
the voyage, would Mr. Fiedler have realized, had he been 
I ermitted to prosecute it to its preconceived termination, 
and been paid the $42,000 charter-money ? It is evident 
that that much, at the very least, he lost by the breaking up 
of the voyage. And as the evidence further shows, what is 
entirely consistent with the probabilities of the case, that 
the claimant's profits would have been not less than twenty 
thousand dollars in gold, it is apparent that, in no event, 
can the amount of his loss be equitably reduced below that 
sum; which being exactly that which Mr. Fiedler himself 
originally offered to accept in satisfaction, it is precisely that 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



355 



which, with interest accrued and accruing thereon, his rep- 
resentatives now claim. 

There dre two other points of the Report which require 
to be noticed. The first is, the attempt to draw from the 
letter of Minister Blow a degree of support of the Brazilian 
Government in rejecting the claim ; and this is done by 
what is, in fact, a gross misstatement of the tenor of Mr. 
Blow's letter ; a misstatement, however, which may possibly 
be attributable to imperfect translation ; or, if not, it is cer- 
tainly very far from being creditable to the ingenuousness of 
the authors of the Report. It consists in the far-fetched 
representation that Minister Blow was of opinion that the 
charter-party was invalid, and that he stated that it appeared, 
from his own convictions, that, under such circumstances, 
no good claim could be founded on what had been done bv 
either Bocayuva or Goicouria; whereas, in the perspicuous 
passage misquoted from his letter, Minister Blow was simply 
stating what was alleged in defence by the Brazilian Govern- 
ment ; and the whole tenor of his letter shows conclu- 
sively that he beUeved, not only that that allegation was 
erroneous, but that Mr. Fiedler, by application in the par- 
ticular quarter suggested by Minister Blow himself, could 
obtain proof that it was so. 

The other point referred to is hkewise a flimsy and futile 
effort to prove that the present Minister of the United 
States at Rio de Janeiro, Mr. Partridge, in the memorandum 
submitted by him to the Brazilian Government in connec- 
tion with this claim, admitted that the charter-party was in 
itself insufficient as an obHgatory instrument, abandoned 
the claim as a matter of strict right, and only urged it by 
way of appeal to the " sense of equity " of the Brazilian 
Government. Nothing, I apprehend, can be further from 
the truth than this fabricated account of the position of 
Minister Partridge. So far from having done anything of 



256 THE FIEDLER CLAIM. 

the character attributed to him, he evidently regarded the- 
charter-party as a valid and binding instiument, and urged, 
in good faidi and full confidence, upon the Brazilian Gov- 
ernment, compensation for its violation. That he did not 
urge a specific demand for the whole amount of the charter- 
party, $42,000, but only for a just and reasonable compen- 
sation, in no way supports the view expressed in the Report. 
This was simply because, through the advice of the Brazil- 
ian Charge d' Affaires, the voyage not having been com- 
pleted, the charter-party, calling for $42,000, did not fur- 
nish a perfect guide as to the compensation ; and the Minis- 
ter at once proceeds to state his own opinion as to the 
proper basis of adjustment; a basis with which I am sure 
the representatives of Mr. Fiedler would be entirely satisfied. 
In conclusion, I will only add, that, in my judgment, 
there is no valid objection whatever, whether of law or eth- 
ics, which can be urged against this claim. The only point 
open to candid argument is as to the amount which should 
be awarded, which cannot, in my view, be less than what 
was first asked by Mr. Fiedler, and is still asked by his rep- 
resentatives. 

If I had ever entertained any doubt about this claim upon 
my own examination of the evidence on which it rests, that 
doubt would now be completely dispelled by the seeming 
shifts to which the authors of the Report, signed by the Im- 
perial Councillors, are driven in their efforts to find some 
plausible objection to it; shifts which, if not explainable by 
misconception, arising from mistranslation, or other innocent. 
cause, I must say I shall always regard as a prodigious study 
for the curious. 

Yours, respectfully, 

EDWARD JORDAN. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 357 

TPIE "CIRCASSIAN" CHARTER-PARTY. 

[Copy.] 

This Cha'rter-Party, made and concluded in the City of New York, 
■on this the twenty-first day of August, in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-seven, between Ernest Fiedler, owner of the steam- 
ship Circassian, of New York, of the burden of fifteen hundred tons, 
or thereabouts, now on her way to Bremen, of the first part, and Do- 
mingo de Goicouria, Esquire, Agent for Immigration for the Brazilian 
Government, of the second part, WITNESSETH, that the said party of 
the first part, for and in consideration of the covenants and agreements 
hereinafter mentioned, to be kept and performed by the said party of 
the second part, does covenant and agree on the freighting and charter- 
ing of the said vessel unto the said party of the second part for a voy- 
age from the port of New Orleans, Louisiana, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 
on the terms following, that is to say : 

FliiST : — The said party of the first part does engage that the said 
vessel, in and during the said voyage, shall be kept tight, staunch, 
well-fitted, tackled, and provided with every requisite, and with men 
and provisions necessary for such a voyage. 

Second : — -The said party of the first part, .does further engage that 
the whole of the said vessel (with the exception of the cabin, the deck, 
and the necessary room for the accommodation of the crew, and of the 
sails, cable and provisions,) shall be at the sole use and disposal of the 
said party of the second part during the voyage aforesaid. 

Third: — The said party of the first part does further engage to 
take and receive on board the said vessel, during the aforesaid voyage, 
all such lawful goods and merchandise as the said party of the second 
part, or his agent, may think proper to ship. 

And the said party of the second part, for and in consideration of 
the covenants and agreements to be kept and performed by the said 
party of the first part, does covenant and agree with the said party of 
the first part, to charter and hire the said vessel as aforesaid, on the 
terms following, that is to say : 

First: — The said party of secon-1 part does engage to provide and 
furnish the said vessel with passengers in the steerage, from six years 
•old and upward, not to exceed six hundred in number; except such 
children under six years of age as may belong to the passengers, but 
not in excess of the provisions of law. 

Second: — The said party of the second part does further engage 
1 ) pay to the said party of the first part, or his agent, for the charter 
or freight of the said vessel during the voyage aforesaid, in the man- 



358 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Tier following, that is to say : Forty-two ihou:;and American gold dol 
lars, or its equivalent in millreis, ten days after the completion of the 
voya TC. For cabin passengers, sixty American gold dollars per head 
additional is to be paid ; say one hundred and thirty American gold 
dollars in full for cabin fare ; and it is hereby agreed that all passage- 
money received at New Orleans shall be paid over to and received by 
the party of the first part, or his duly authorized agent, and shall be 
credited on account of the charter-money payable hereby. 

It is further agreed between the parties to this instrument, that the 
said party of the second part shall be allowed, for the loading and dis- 
charging of the said vessel, at the respective ports aforesaid, lay days,, 
as follows, that is to say : Ten running days for loading and discharg- 
ing. The vessel is to sail from New Orleans, Louisiana, on the fifteenth 
day of November, 1867, weather permitting, unless detained at Bre- 
men, or elsewhere, by causes beyond the control of the said party of 
the first part, in which case the vessel is to sail within ten days after 
her arrival at New Orleans; and in case the vessel is longer detained, 
the said party of the second part agrees to pay to the said party of the 
first part, demurrage at the rate of three hundred and fifty American 
gold dollars per day for each and every day so detained, provided such 
detention shall happen by default of the said party of the second part, 
or his agent. 

It is further understood and agreed, that the passengers and cargo 
shall be received and landed or delivered alongside and within reach of 
the vessel's tackles. 

It is also further understood and agreed, that this charter shall com- 
mence when the vessel is ready to receive passengers or cargo at her 
place of loading, and notice thereof is given to the party of the 
second part, or to his agent. 

Further, it is also understood and agreed, that the party o-f the first 
part shall furnish all necessary provisions for the passengers, and sup- 
ply them with tin plates, cups, knives and forks ; do all cooking need- 
ful for them, and put up for them berths in the usual way, and have on 
board a competent surgeon. It is also understood that the party of the 
first part, after reserving sufficient of the ship's hold for fuel, stores, 
provisions, water, etc., shall allow the balance of the space to be used 
by the passengers for their baggage aud implements ; and the party of 
the first part shall have the liberty to tow or assist vessels in distress, 
and to sail with or without a pilot. The vessel is to be consigned at 
Rio de Janeiro to B. Cayman, Esquire, Agent of the United States and 
Brazil Mail Steamship Company, of New York, paying him the custo- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 359 

mary commission of two and one-half per cent. A commission of 
ten per cent, is to be paid by the party of the first part, on receipt by 
him of the charter-money herein specified, to the Immigration Agent 
for the BraiiiUan Government in New York ; and also, at the same time, 
a commission of two and one-half per cent, on this charter is payable 
to O. Koch. 

To the true and faithful performance of all the foregoing covenants 
and agreements, the said parties, each to the other, do hereby bind 
themselves, their executors, administrators and assigns, and also the 
said vessel, freight, tackle and appurtenances, each to the other, in the 
penal sum of the amount of the charter-money. 

In witness whereof, the said parties have hereunto interchangeably 
set their hands and seals, this the twenty-first day of August, 1867. 

ERNEST FIEDLER, [l. s.] 

DOMINGO DE GOICOURIA, [l. s.] 

Brazilian Immigration Agent. 
Sealed and delivered in presence of 

Emil Ruger, Ship Broker. 
We hereb)'' certify that the foregoing is a trtie and correct copy of 
the original stamped Charter-Party in our possession. 

RUGER BROTHERS, * 
Ship Brokers. 



CHARGE D'AFFAIRES ALBUQUERQUE TO MR. 
STURGIS. 

(Translation.) 

Brazilian Legation, 
New York, March 15, 1867. 
Russell Sturgis, Esq. 

Sir : In answer to your letter of yesterday, I have to in- 
form you that the name of the Agent for Brazilian Immigra- 
tion is Mr. Quintino de Souza Bocayuva. This gentleman 
has power to charter sailing vessels or steamers to take emi- 
grants from the southern ports of the United States to Bra- 



360 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

zil. According to the contract made between the Imperial 
Government and the United States and Brazil Mail Steam- 
ship Company, he can have a deputy, and Mr Domingo de 
GoicoLiria is the deputy appointed by him. I beneve my 
Government will approve what is done by the said Agent. 
I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

H. CAVALCANTI DE ALBUQUERQUE. 



THE CHEVALIER FLEURY TO MR. FIEDLER. 

(Translation.) 

Imperial Legation of Brazil, 
New York, December 18, 1867. 
£rnest Fiedler, Esq. 

Dear Sir: I have received your letter of yesterday, in- 
closing various documents relative to the contract entered 
into, on the 21st of August last, between you and Domingo 
Goicouria as Agent for BraziHan Immigration. The char- 
ter-party declares that Goicouria chartered the steamship 
Circassian, of which vessel you are the owner, for the sum 
of $42,000 in gold, or its equivalent in miUreis, to take emi- 
grants to Rio de Janeiro; the said steamship to sail from 
the port of New Orleans. Being hiformed that the number 
of emigrants is very small, I advise you not to allow the 
steamer to sail, but to consider the charter-party completely 
null and void. I shall immediately call the attention of my 
Government to the subject, and will ask it to take into con- 
sideration the amount demanded by you, and to indemnify 
you for the losses you have sustained. 

I have the honor to offer you the assurances of my high- 
est consideration. 

LOUIS AUGUSTUS DE PADUA FLEURY. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 36 1 

MINISTER BLOW TO MR. FIEDLER. 

Legation of the United States, 
Petropolis, Brazil, Septembe?- 22, 1870. 
Ernest Fiedler, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 20th of July last, was 
promptly delivered tb me, from the mails of the August 
steamer. I am glad to say that I am the person wicn -.rhom 
you had business relations, many years ago, in St. LoUiS, and 
that it will afford me the greatest satisfaction and happiness 
if I can serve you in the case of the steamship Circassian ; 
not only because I like to discharge my duties to every 
American citizen, but also for the reason that I can never 
forget that, when I was young, inexperienced and poor, I 
had your respect and confidence. I have had to proceed 
slowly in the business which you have intrusted to me, owing 
to the fact that it was desirable, if possible, to procure some 
information absolutely essential to the strengthening of your 
claim ; in this I am now beginning to fear that I shall have 
to rely mainly on the integrity of the Imperial Government.* 
I have had an informal interview with the officials in the 
Foreign office, and am promised some information touching 
their charters. When I procure this, I will write you at once 
in regard to the prospect for collecting the whole or any 
portion of the amount due you. 

I am, dear sir, 

Very truly, your obedient servant, 

HENRY T. BLOW. 

* KSS. information and proofs necessary to impart perfect validity to 
the claim, (in fact, a superabundance of such information and 
proofs,) had previously been submitted to Brazil's diplomatic repre- 
sentatives in the United States; and a large redundance of equally- 
strong and convincing testimony has since been adduced in the claim- 
ant's behalf at Rio de Janeiro; but all in va n, as will but too plainly 
appear within the compass of the following pages. 

H. R. H 



362 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

jMINISTER blow to MR. FIEDLER. ' 
(Private ) 

Lisbon, Portugal, November 28, 1870. 
Ernest Fiedler, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir : It was only during the week of my depart- 
ure from Rio de Janeiro, that I went into an examination of 
your claim against Brazil, with Mr. J. T. do Amoral, the 
Director-General of Accounts, and finally obtained from the 
Department a verbal decision, which, I am sorry to say, is 
unfavorable. The Brazilian Government asserts positively 
that neither General Goicouria nor the party whose substi- 
tute or agent he was, had any authority from it to act in the 
manner they did, in chartering vessels, and that, under the 
actual condition of affairs, it cannot consider any claim 
growing out of the acts of either. This declaration, how- 
ever, does not in reality prove that those parties were not 
authorized as they represented themselves to be, but only 
that, so far as the present Director-General of Accounts of 
the Brazilian Government is advised or knows, they were 
not under Imperial commission as agents for immigration. 
If you can prove that any charters made by either Bocayuva 
or Goicouria were ever recognized, and the money paid by 
the Brazilian Government, for or on account of those char- 
ters, I am sure I can obtain from the Imperial Government 
the amount you are willing to receive ; and I am not sure 
but that you can obiain such proofs from shipowners in 
New York, through the hands of the very Consul who was. 
acting for the Brazilian Government at the time the Circas- 
sian was chartered. 

I am now on my way back to the United States, and ex- 
pect to be in New York about the last of December, when 
I will advise you where replies can readily reach me. 
Meanwhile I inclose to you, herewith, the documents you 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



2>^Z 



sent me, as they may, perhaps, in other hands, be useful to 
you. 

I am; sir, very truly, your friend, 

HENRY T. BLOW. 



AFFIDAVIT OF CAPT. ELLIS. 

State, County, and ) <. ^ 

City of New York. ^ 

Thomas S. Ellis, being first duly sworn, makes oath and 
says, that he is fifty-four years of age; that he resides at No. 
277 Dean Street, in the City of Brooklyn, and is master of 
the ship Fearless of New York; that in the year 1867, he 
was master of the steamship Circassian of New York, of 
which Ernest Fiedler was the sole owner; that, in that year, 
this affiant made a voyage with the said steamship to Bre- 
men, Europe, and while there, in the month of September, 
he received notice from the said Fiedler that the said ves- 
sel had been chartered to transport emigrants from New Or- 
leans to Rio de Janeiro, with instructions to purchase in Bre- 
men certain supplies for the said contemplated voyage, which 
purchases the alhant made at a cost of about three thousand 
dollars ; that, at the time the affiant received notice of the 
said chartering, the Circassian was already advertised to sail 
from Bremen, for New York, on the 14th day of October, and 
accordingly, on that day, she sailed for New York, making 
no stoppage on the voyage, and arrived at the latter port on 
the second day of November, the earliest practicable dav after 
the chartering of the said steamship, which occurred on the 
2 1 St day of August ; that, on the arrival of the said steamship 
at New York, it was found that she needed important altera- 
tions and repairs, in order to fit her for a voyage for the 



264 1'HE FIEDLER CLAIM 

transportation of passengers from New Orleans to Rio de 
Janeiro ; that the said alterations and repairs were accor- 
dingly made, at a large expense, in making which the utmost 
dispatch was observed, the workmen employed therein 
working most of the time day and night; that nearly all the 
said alterations and repairs had especial reference to fitting 
the said vessel for the voyage on which she was then des- 
tined ; as a comparatively small outlay would have put her 
in condition to make a return trip to Bremen; that while the 
said work was being done, a small amount of cargo was taken 
on board for New Orleans, but that the taking thereof occa- 
sioned no delay whatever in the sailing of the said steamship 
for New Orleans, where she arrived on the 6th day of De- 
cember, without having touched at any intermediate port, 
and without any unnecessary delay, having left New York 
on the twenty-fourth day of November ; that, on arriving at 
New Orleans, the affiant notified Messrs. Elliott & Mc- 
Keever, the persons to whom he was ordered by direc- 
tion of the Brazilian Agent of Emigration at New York, to 
report, (the said Elliott being at that time the Brazilian Con- 
sul at New Orleans,) and informed them of the readiness of 
the Circassian to take in emigrants and enter upon the per- 
formance of the voyage to Rio de Janeiro ; that no objection 
was made by the said parties, nor by any one on account of 
the time of the arrival of the said steamship at New Orleans, 
nor on any other ground; that no objection on the ground 
of the time of her arrival could have been well-fomided, be- 
cause the Brazihan Agent of Emigration at New York, oh 
the 23d day of November, 1867, directed that the said 
steamship should report under the said charter-party to 
Messrs. Elliott and McKeever, andthe said steamship sailed 
from New York the next day, and reached New Orleans on 
the 6th day of December, as before stated, and was ready 
to proceed on her voyage to Rio de Janeiro within ten days 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 365 

thereafter ; as provided in the said charter-party ; that no 
emigrants were furnished for transportation, though the Cir- 
cassian remained at New Orleans ready to receive such as 
should be offered, until after the expiration of. the lay days 
specified in the said charter-party ; that after the expiration 
of the said lay days, this affiant demanded the payment of 
demurrage, according to the said charter-party, which was 
refused ; wherefore the said affiant protested on account of 
the said failure to provide passengers and to pay demurrage ; 
and the said steamship was withdrawn pursuant to the advice 
of the Charge of the Brazilian Government; that, as soon as 
it was known that the said voyage would be abandoned, 
every practicable effort was made to secure employment for 
the said vessel; but nevertheless, her owner suffered for 
want of such employment for her, during the ensuing three 
months, a loss of many thousands of dollars; while this affi- 
ant believes that, but for the chartering of the said steam- 
ship, as aforesaid, profitable employment could have been 
obtained for her during all the time she would have been oc- 
cupied in making the said contemplated voyage, had it been 
prosecuted to a termin^Ltion, which would have been about 
one month from New Orleans to Rio de Janeiro, and from 
two and a half to three months for the entire voyage out 
and back to New York ; and this affiant says, that the profits 
of the said Fiedler on the said contemplated voyage to Rio 
de Janeiro would have been large; that those on the return 
voyage would also have been considerable, and that his 
losses occasioned by the failure of the said voyage were un-" 
doubtedly very heavy, but he will not undertake to estimate 
their amount, or the amount of profits he would have real- 
ized, had the said voyage been performed, as he has not the 
means of forming a reliable judgment thereon. 

T. S. ELLIS. 



66 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



United States of America, ) 

State of New York, > SS. 

County and City of New York. ) 

Be it known, that, on this, the eighteenth day of March, 
1876, before me, J. Douglas Brown, a Notary Public, in and 
for Kings County, in the State of New York, residing in the 
Citv of Brooklyn, in the said County of Kings, duly com- 
missioned and sworn, and by law authorized to administer 
oaths and affirmations, in the said City and County of New 
York, personally appeared the said T. S. Ellis, of the said 
City of Brooklyn, and who, being by me duly sworn, did 
dep )se and say, that the foregoing statement, subscribed 
by him, was in all respects true and correct. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
affixed my seal of office, at the said City of New York, the 
day and year last aforesaid. 
[l. s.] J. DOUGLAS BROWN, 

Notary Public. 



AFFIDAVIT OF iMR. PERSUHN. 

United States of America, ^ 

Slwte of New York, > 55. 

County and Cify of New York. ) 

Charles P. Persuhn, being first d-uly sworn, says that he is 
forty-two years of age ; that he resides at number Twenty- 
nine, West Eighteenth Street, in the City of New York, and 
is a merchant, engaged in business in the said city ; that he 
was a cousin of the late Ernest Fiedler, and superintended 
the preparation of the Steamer Circassian for her contem- 
plated voyage from New Orleans to Brazil, in the year 
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and is familiar with the 
circumstances under which the said steamer was chartered 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 367 

for the said voyage, with her preparations therefor, and 
with the facts re' nng to the said vessel up to and after her 
withdrawal therefrom ; that the said steamer was, at the 
time of the making up of the charter-party for the said 
voyage, in the actual performance of a voyage to Bremen, 
Europe, where she arrived on the twenty-seventh day of 
August, six days after the making of the said charter-party ; 
that the said Ernest Fiedler, before entering into the said 
charter-party, was shown, by Domingo Goicouria, a power 
of attorney from Quintino de Souza Bocayuva, fully author- 
izing the said Goicouria to exercise all the powers of the 
said Bocayuva as agent of Emigration for the BraziHan 
Government, and was informed that the authority of both 
the said Bocayuva and the said Goicouria to charter vessels 
for the conveyance of emigrants from the United States to 
Brazil had been recognized by the Brazilian Government, 
and had been expressly affirmed by the head of the Lega- 
tion of that Government in the United States, — Mr. Caval- 
■canti de Albuquerque, — and, in particular, that the said 
Fiedler, before entering into the said charter-party, learned 
that the steamer Catherine Whiting had, but a short time 
previous, completed a voyage under a charter-party in all 
substantial respects similar to the one proposed for the 
steamer Circassian, and had been paid the charter-money 
by the Brazilian authorities : that immediately after the exe- 
cution of the said charter-party, the said Fiedler notified 
the master of the said steamer Circassian, by letter to Bre- 
men, of the making thereof, and gave directions for her 
return, to enter upon the said contemplated voyage ; but 
that, on her return to New York, she was found to need 
important repairs and alterations in order to fit her for a 
voyage to Brazil for the purpose contemplated by the said 
■ charter-party, and that the same were made with all practica- 
ble dispatch, she having reached New York on the second day 



368 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

of November, and sailed from thence for New Orleans on' 
the twenty-fourth day of ' the same month; that the said 
repairs cost over twelve thousand dollars; that the said- 
steamer proceeded direcdy to New Orleans, where she 
arrived on the sixth day of December next thereafter, with- 
out having touched at any intermediate port ; that the said 
steamer took some cargo and passengers from New York to 
New Orleans, but that her doing so was with the express 
assent of the Brazilian Agent of Emigration, and in no way 
retarded her departure from the former port, nor her arrival 
at the latter one, nor her being ready to receive at New 
Orleans emigrants under her charter-party, for the voyage 
to Brazil, the said steamer having been ready at New 
Orleans to receive such emigrants at the earliest practicable 
moment after the making of the said charter-party ; and that 
the said steamer remained in readiness in New Odeans to 
receive such emigrants until she was withdrawn from the 
projected voyage pursuant to the advice of the Charge of 
the Brazilian Government. And the said affiant further 
says that the net earnings of the steamer Circassian, under 
the said charter-party, over and above all expenses, chargea- 
ble to the said voyage, would, had the said voyage been 
completed, have been not less than twenty thousand dol- 
lars in gold, in addition to which the net earnings upon her 
return trip to New York would not have been less than five 
thousand dollars in gold ; that as soon as the said Fiedler, 
on advice of the Brazilian Charge, had determined to with- 
draw the said vessel from the said voyage, he made every 
effort to find profitable employment for her, but failed to do 
so ; but, on the coQtrary, suffered actual loss of nearly 
twenty thousand dollars within the next succeeding three 
months. 

And the said affiant further says that, had the said steam- 
er not been placed under the said charter-party for the said 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 369 

voyage to Brazil, and bad she been free, on her return to 
New York, from Bremen, to seek employment elsewhere, 
she could' readily have found profitable employment for all 
the time she was engaged in going to and remaining at 
New Orleans ; and for all the time which would have been 
occupied in her contemplated voyage to Brazil ; and he says 
that the said voyage would have occupied, according to the 
usual course, about thirty days from New Orleans to Rio de 
Janeiro ; and he further says that the actual total loss which 
accrued to the said Fiedler, from the failure of the said voy- 
age, was not less than fifty thousand dollars. 

CHARLES P. PERSUHN 



United States of America, ^ 

State of New York, > SS. 

County and City of New York. ) 

Be it known, that, on this, the seventeenth day of 
March, 1876, before me, Frank Thompson, a Notary PubHc, 
in and for the County and City of New York, in the State of 
New York, residing in the said City, duly commissioned and 
sworn, and by law authorized to administer oaths and affir- 
mations, personally appeared Charles P. Persuhn of the said 
City of New York, and who, being by me duly sworn, did 
depose and say, that the foregoing statement, subscribed by 
him, was in all respects true and correct. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
affixed my seal of office, at the said City of New York, the 
day and year last aforesaid. 

FRANK THOMPSON, 
[l. s.] Notary Public, 



23 



370 THE FIEDLER CLAIM \ 

MR. HELPER TO THE CHEVALIER BORGES. 

New York, /u/ie 5, 1876. 
To His Excellency the Chevalier 

AxTONio Pedro de Carvalho Borges, 
Minister Plenipotentiary for Brazil. 

Distinguished Sir: I htive the honor to request 3^our 
Excellency's attention to the following corresi)ondence, 
touching the just claim of Helen AL Eiedler, of this city, 
the widow and executrix of Ernest Fiedler, deceased, 
against the Government of Brazil. * * * The forego- 
ing correspondence with the Hon. Edward Jordan is so self- 
explanatory, in all respects, that I do not feel called upon 
to elucidate further any fact or circumstance connected with 
it; my principal object in now laying it before your Excel- 
lency being to inquire, whether the presence of his Impe- 
rial Majesty Dom Pedro II in this country, or elsewhere out 
of Brazil, would be likely to operate, in any way, as a hin- 
drance or delay to my success in securing just consideration 
and action on the claim by the Imperial Regency Ad Interim 
at Rio de Janeiro? May his Majesty's visit here be prolonged 
in health and happiness ! 

If there is no danger of my encountering the somewhat 
apprehended hindrance or delay, because of the absence 
of the Emperor, I think I shall soon sail hence for Brazil ; 
but if the danger is imminent, or if there is even serious doubt 
on the subject, I shall, in such case, prefer to wait until his 
Majesty's return to his own dominions. I hope, however, to 
be informed that the functions of good Government in Brazil 
are in unimpaired and full force, and that there is no known 
or probable reason why, if I go there as a citizen of the 
United States, carrying with me a just claim for losses sus- 
tained by a fellow-citizen in the service of the Empire, I may 
not rightly expect such prompt redress in the premises as 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



371 



will be in consonance with the highest principles of interna- 
tional honor and equity. 

I am, sir, with great respect, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO THE CHEVALIER BORGES. 

New Yok-^, June 27, 1876. 
To His Excellency the Chevalier 

Antonio Pedro de Carvalho Borges, 
Minister FleniJ)otentiary for Brazil. 
Distinguished Sir: About three weeks ago, that is to 
say, on the 5th instant, I had the honor to address your 
Excellency on the subject of the claim of Helen M. Fiedler, 
■executrix of the estate of Ernest Fiedler, deceased, against 
the Government of Brazil. My communication v/as some- 
what elaborate, covering, in the form of correspondence 
with Edward Jordan, Esquire, the whole grounds of the case. 
Yet the particular point upon which I desired your Excel- 
lency's reply (which, however, has not yet been received,) 
was contained on the last page, which I here transcribe as 
follows: * * * Being thus still in a quandary as to 
whether or not it would be advisable for me to go to Brazil, 
with a view of prosecuting the claim in question before the 
Government of that Empire, in the absence of the Empe- 
ror, I should be greatly obliged to your Excellency for such 
information on the subject as would clearly indicate to me, 
in this dilemma, the path of prudence and justice. 
I have the honor be, most respectfully. 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



372 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

SECRETARY TORREAO DE BARROS TO MR. 
HELPER. 



Philadelphia, Jime 30, 1876. 
Mr. H. R. Helper. 

Sir: I am directed by his Excellency the Minister from 
Brazil to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th 
instant, and to say that, as a matter of course, the absence 
of the Emperor from the Empire does not hinder the work- 
ing of the Brazilian system of government, His Majesty's 
share and authority being temporarily vested in the hands 
of his daughter, the Imperial Princess Izabel, as Regent^ 
of which fact it would seem that you are already aware. 
With the expression of my regards, 
I remain, sir, truly yours, 
B. l^ORREAO DE BARROS. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER PARTRIDGE. 

New York, July 12, 1876. 
Hon. James R. Partridge, 

United States Minister to Brazil. 
Sir: Having in hand an important matter of business 
with the Government of Brazil, in which I hope to have, 
when necessary and convenient, the benefit of your minis- 
terial counsel and assistance, I am now contemplating the 
time when I may, with a fair prospect of exemption from the 
fatalities of yellow fever and other endemic diseases, go to 
Rio de Janeiro. Will you please inform me whether, in 
your opinion, October and November would probably be 
about as safe as any other season of the year for an Ameri- 
can creditor and claimant to sojourn at the capital of Bra- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 373 

zil ? — or, if not these particular months, which other two or 
three months would you recommend nearest beyond them. 
I have* the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER 



MINISTER PARTRIDGE TO MR. HELPER. 

United States Legation in Brazil, 
Rio de Janeiro, September lo, 1876. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: In reply to your note of the 12th of July, I 
have to say that October and November are about the 
worst months in which one may start from the United States 
for Brazil. The yehow fever generally prevails here from 
December to May, inclusive ; and this year it did not disap- 
pear till August. A good time to come to Brazil is to leave 
the United States in May, so that one may feel reasonably 
safe in being here during the months of June and July and 
August, when, as a rule, the weather is cool and healthy. 
Yours respectfully, 

JAMES R. PARTRIDGE. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER PARTRIDGE. 

New York, March 23, 1877. 
Hon. James R. Partridge, 

United States Minister to Brazil. 
Sir: I have the honor to request that you will be kind 
enough, in your official capacity, to take cognizance of the 



374 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



Fiedler claim against Brazil, as it is set forth in the accom- 
panying paper, without, however, making any fresh mention 
of the matter to the Brazilian Government until after my 
arrival at Rio de Janeiro, two or three months hence, or 
until after you shall have heard from me again on the sub- 
ject. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MR. JORDAN. 

Westminster Palace Hotel, 
London, England, April 13, 1877. 
Edward Jordan, Esq., Neiu York. 

Dear Sir: Since my arrival in this mighty metropolis of 
the world, on Monday last, I have had interviews with the 
Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, our American Envoy Extraordi- 
nary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James, 
and also with His Excellency the Baron de Penedo, the 
Brazilian Ambassador to Great Britain. His Imperial Maj- 
esty Dom Pedro H, the peregrinating and pleasure-pursuing 
potentate of Brazil, who was last week in Vienna, yesterday 
in Berlin, and this morning in Dresden, is still so rapid, so 
comet-like and uncertain in his movements, that I am quite 
at a loss to know where to go to find him. Yet the Baron 
de Penedo has informed me that His Majesty will undoubt- 
edly be in Paris very soon after the first of May, and that he 
will then remain there several weeks. I have therefore de- 
termined to make a hasty tour through England, Wales, Ire- 
land and Scotland, and then go over to the Continent, 
wending my way to the French capital, where I shall hold 
myself in waiting with the hope of securing the honor of an 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 375 

introduction to and interview with His Majesty in the early- 
part of next month. If I succeed in obtaining an interview 
with the • Emperor, I shall, fortified and emboldened by 
the facts of the case, make a strong effort to impress his 
mind favorably in regard to the Fiedler claim against his 
Government; and, in any event, you will probably hear from 
me again, on this subject, by or about the first of June. 
Respectfully and truly yours, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO THE EMPEROR DO^I PEDRO H. 

Hotel du Rhone, 
Paris, France, Afay 9, 1877. 
To His Imperial Majesty Dom Pedro II, 

Enipero7' of B7'azil. 

Sire: From Asheville in North CaroHna, to Paris in 
France, by the usuail route, is a distance of more than four 
thousand miles; and this is the distance which! have just 
travelled, by land and sea, in the hope of being honored by 
your Majesty with a brief interview in relation to a just 
claim, (now of nearly ten years' standing,) which I have 
been employed to prosecute against the Brazilian Govern- 
ment. 

I refer to the claim of Ernest Fiedler, of New York, a 
ship owner and citizen of the United States, of whose time 
and labor and money the Brazihan Government, by one of 
its Agents for Immigration, made use, in 1867, without com- 
pensation, and otherwise without fulfilling its part of the 
contract. 

Yet by tliis last remark I do not mean to charge that your 
Majesty's Government is, up to the present time, wholly or 



376 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

inexcusably at fault in the premises, inasmuch as the cir- 
cumstances attending its failure to fulfil its part of the con- 
tract, were peculiar, and for itself, no less than for Mr. Fied- 
ler, singularly unfortunate. 

All the facts in the case were submitted to your Majesty's 
Council of State at Rio de Janeiro, several years since ; 
and it is beUeved that justice would have been done there 
and then, but for an unaccountably strange mistranslation 
to the Council, of certain important papers. 

Briefly and substantially the facts are these : In August, 
1867, Mr. Domingo de Goicouria, under full powers of at- 
torney from Mr. Quintino de Souza Bocayuva, an authorized 
Agent in the United States for Emigration to Brazil, char- 
tered of Mr. Fiedler, in New York, the steamship Circassian 
(then on a voyage to Bremen,) to convey from New Or- 
leans to Rio de Janeiro, at a later period in the year, six 
hundred emigrants, more or less ; for which service Mr. 
Fiedler was to receive the sum of $42,000 in gold, and, in 
the event pf undue detention, demurrage at the rate of $350 
per day, after the expiration of ten days allowed in the char- 
ter-party for embarking and disembarking the passengers. 

On her return from Bremen, the Circassian proceeded to 
New Orleans, and there, according to contract, waited in 
readiness for the passengers whom Mr. Goicouria was to 
send aboard ; but none came ; or at most but very few ; and 
finally, after correspondence on the subject with the Cheva- 
lier Fleury, who at that particular time was the diplomatic 
representative of Brazil in the United States, Mr. Fiedler 
■was advised, by the Chevalier Fleury, to abandon the voy- 
age, and to make reclamation on Brazil for such amount as 
would promptly satisfy the demands of justice. 

Acting on this weighty advice, Mr. Fiedler, who had in- 
curred great expense in making the necessary alterations in 
his ship, in purchasing provisions and supplies for so large. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 377 

a number of emigrants, and in other respects, put in a claim, 
not for the whole amount of $42,000, as legally he might 
have done, (the failure of contract having been no fault of 
his, but solely the fault of Mr. Goicouria, the Brazilian 
Agent,) but for the more equitable sum of only $20,000, 
which, as I have been solemnly and credibly assured, time and 
again, is much less than the aggregate of actual expenses and 
losses which Mr. Fiedler suffered in consequence of Brazil's 
failure in this case, — unintentional as it may have been, — 
to fulfil her part of the contract. This amount, therefore, 
$20,000, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, 
is what is now claimed in satisfaction of Brazil's non-fulfill- 
ment of her agreement. 

Your Majesty, whose long, wise, honorable and success- 
ful reign, will impart strength and lustre to all your dynastic 
successors on the throne of Brazil, needs not to be reminded 
that justice is a thing that should always be done, and done 
quickly, for its own sake, and for the sake of all whom it 
affects ; for probably there is no one in all the world who 
appreciates more fully than yourself the perfect truth and 
obligation of this sentiment. 

This, then, is a case wherein, through the direct interven- 
tion of an x\gent of your Majesty's Government, an Amer- 
ican citizen has been diverted from his regular pursuits, 
misled into an imperfecdy planned Brazilian enterprise, and, 
in consequence, greatly injured in his business and property. 
I have therefore to request, most respectfully and earnestly, 
that your Majesty Avill be kind enough to take the matter 
into due consideration, and, with as Httle additional delay 
as possible, order, or recommend, that just recompense be 
made to my cHent. 

With this matter in hand I should have gone direcdy from 
the United States to Brazil, but for the fact that the claim 
having been already once before your Majesty, I feared that 



378 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

the Imperial Regency at Rio de Janeiro might not fee] dis- 
posed to take the responsibiUty of settling it finally in your 
absence, and might, therefore, put me off until your Majes- 
ty's return to the Empire ; and I may here say, frankly and 
truthfully, that I purposely refrained from presenting the case 
to you while you were in the United States, last year, because, 
as you were then the illustrious guest of the whole country,. 
I considered that, under such circumstances, it would be 
both impolite and rude for any citizen of the Republic to 
approach your Majesty there, at that particular time, on a. 
matter of formal and serious business. 

While resting this case broadly on its own merits, and 
claiming for my client compensation accordingly, it yet 
so happens that there is another reason, — more than a 
double reason, as I contend, — why, as it seems to me, Bra- 
zil should now do full justice to my injured fellow-citizen, or 
rather to his widow, for Mr. Fiedler himself is no longer 
alive. The reason to which I thus allude is, as I perceive 
it, one of vast and auspicious promise, looking to a much 
larger development of the material resources of Brazil than 
has ever yet been realized or even projected ; and if Brazil 
will now^ but do simple justice to my client, that act ot 
justice on her part will (speaking with all candor,) place me 
/in possession of a fee which, in whole or in part, I shall expend 
( very soon afterward in perfecting plans in her behalf, which, 
\ if successfully carried out, will, in time, as I really beUeve, 
/ give her back at least one hundred dollars for every dollar 
< she will pay me. 

/ This large and feasible scheme of development has been 
I locked exclusively in my own breast ever since 1866, when 
I I first conceived it ; being then off the coast of Brazil, on 
\ my way back to the United States from Buenos Ay res, in 
\the Argentine Repubhc'^Svhere, for a period of nearly five 
years, I had been performing the duties of an American: 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 379 

Consul; and although the time has not yet arrived for the 
scheme to be made public, (and may not arrive for one or 
two years niore,) yet I should now esteem it an honor to be 
permitted to lay it fully before your Majesty in confidence. 
Trusting that you may be pleased to favor me with the 
privilege of an interview with your Majesty, in regard to the 
two matters of business here mentioned, — one, the smaller, 
against Brazil, and the other, the larger, in the interest of 
Brazil, — I have the honor to be, with great respect. 
Your Majesty's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY ARANJO TO MR. HELPER. 

(Translation.) 

Legation of Brazil, 17 Rue de Teheran. 
Paris, May 11, 1877. 
Mr. H. R. Helper, 

Sir: His Majesty, the Emperor of Brazil, has received 
the letter which you addressed to him on the 9th instant. 

During his travels His Majesty does not occupy himself 
specially with affairs pertaining to his Government ; and he 
therefore regrets being unable to take into consideration the 
reclamation which you have addressed to him, and which 
may properly be submitted to his Government only at Rio 
de Janeiro. 

In regard to the other affair which you mention, His Maj- 
esty fears, irom the few indications given by you, that it also 
enters into the same category with those several matters and 
questions with which he does not actively concern himself 
while abroad. If this should not be so, (and you yourself 



^So THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

are left to be the sole judge of it,) His Majesty will receive 
you, in the Grand Hotel, at his customary hour for public 
receptions,— from 5:30 to 6:30 o'clock,— any evening next 
week ; but under the express condition that, during the in- 
terview, no mention whatever shall be made of the claim 
which forms the principal subject of your letter. 

Accept, sir, the assurance of my most distinguished con- 
sideration. 

ARANJO, 
Secretary to the Legation. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ARANJO. 

Hotel du Rhone, 
Paris, May 13, 1877. 
Senhor Aranjo, 

Sir : I must thank you for the polite note which you 
have addressed to me, at the instance of His Majesty, the 
Emperor of Brazil, informing me (in reply to my letter of 
last Wednesday,) of certain rules which His Majesty has 
adopted in regard to matters of governmental business sub- 
mitted for his consideration during his absence from his 
Empire. 

With this information so clearly before me, I shall, of 
course, not presume to trouble His Majesty, here nor else- 
where out of Brazil, with any claim on the one hand, or en- 
terprise on the other, which would be, even in the least de- 
gree, repugnant to his imperial wishes. 

I shall, however, seek an early opportunity to pay to His 
Majesty my sincere respects, and for this purpose will call 
at his hotel, during one of the evenings of this week, within 
the hour of general receptions mentioned in your note. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient 
servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 38 1 

MR. HELPER TO MR. JORDAN. 

Paris, France, May 30, 1877. 
Edward Jordan, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: By perusing the inclosed correspondence 
which I have recently had here with His Imperial Majesty 
Dom Pedro H, you will be enabled to perceive the obstacles 
which have hindered me from taking a " nigh cut " to justice 
and success with our Fiedler claim against Brazil. 

It now concerns me not to be defeated in the more regu- 
lar and determined course of procedure which I am about 
to undertake. 

When I called on the Emperor, three days after the date 
of my note to Secretary Aranjo, I found his Majesty, as it 
became him to be, while dignified, yet perfectly polite, and 
not unaffable. He expressed great delight with most of the 
incidents and experiences of his visit to the United States, 
and himself remarked, with reference to the business which 
had brought me before him, that the rules which he had es- 
tablished for himself and suite, while abroad, and from which 
he had not once departed, rendered it necessary for him to 
refer me and my claim, unconsidered by himself, to his Gov- 
ernment at Rio de Janeiro, just as he had done in all simi- 
lar cases ; and that, in this way, while he had given me no 
preference over others, he had, at the same time, given no 
one any preference over me. His Majesty seemed to be 
perfectly candid and impartial about the matter ; and, upon 
the whole, I feel rather pleased and encouraged than other- 
wise. Yet, as things now stand, I do not expect to accom- 
plish anything before November or December; so if you do 
not hear from me again until then, you may rightly attribute 
my silence to the fact of my having nothing to say. 
Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



3^2 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Paris, France, June 4, 1877. 
Hon. William M. Evarts, 

Secretary of State, ]]\is/iington. 
Sir: It is not Bolivia this time, but Brazil. I have the 
honor to request that you will be good enough to give your 
attention to the just claim of Ernest Fiedler, of New York, 
against the Government of Brazil, as presented in the 
annexed paper, and as you will find it already on record in 
the Department of State, as there presented, several years 
ago, by Edward Jordan, Esquire, who was formerly SoHcitor 
of the Treasury under Secretary Chase, and who is now 
■engaged in the general practice of law, at New York. Mr. 
Jordan and I are now prosecuting this claim together; and 
my only object in writing to you these lines, at this time, is 
to request that you, as the American Secretary of State, 
will so far further the ends of equity as to instruct our Envoy 
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Rio de Janeiro 
to give me, on my arrival there, the aid of his friendly offices 
in obtaining from Brazil the simple measure of justice so 
plainly due to the claimant. * * * I expect to sail 
from Bordeaux for Rio de Janeiro within the next ten days. 
I have the honor to be, most respecifully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



j\IR. HELPER TO THE PRINCESS IZABEL. 

No 39 Rua Princeza Imperial, 
Rio De Janeiro, July 21, 1877. 
To Her Serene Highness, 

The Imperial Princess Izabel, 

Regent of Brazil. 
Exalted Madam : I have the honor to solicit the official 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 383 

attention of your Highness to the following correspondence, 
which, in Paris, PYance, little more than two months ago, 
passed between your august father, the Emperor of Brazil, 
and myself, in relation to the claim of Ernest Fiedler, of 
New York, against the Government of Brazil ; and to 
request that you will be kind enough to accept my part O- 
the correspondence, and to act upon it, in all respects, pre- 
cisely as if the same had been originally addressed to your 
Imperial Highness. 

My first letter to His Majesty, succinctly explaining the 
nature of the claim, and giving the reasons which influenced 
me in going from America to Europe, to seek an interview 
with him on the subject, was as follows : * * * To 
which letter from myself to the Emperor, I received, on the 
1 2th of May, from Senhor Aranjo, Secretary of the Brazilian 
Legation, in Paris, the following reply: * * * On the 
13th of May, acknowledging receipt of Senhor Aranjo's 
■letter, I wrote a note of which the following is a copy : * * 

As for the important enterprise alluded to in the foregoing 
letter to the Emperor, which enterprise justice and duty to 
my client require me constantly to hold as secondary and 
subordinate to the claim, I will here only remark that the 
claim itself is quite independent of the enterprise ; but the en- 
terprise, resting exclusively with myself, (and I, at this time, 
not being able to go on with it,) may not be entirely inde- 
pendent of the claim. Even the additional necessary plan- 
ning of the enterprise, up to a point where it will be prudent 
to begin to execute it, it being now in a rather intricate and 
chaotic condition, will yet require the expenditure of much 
time and labor and money ; all of which, in the hope of being 
ultimately able to achieve a due share of the high honor in 
prospect, I propose shall be borne only by myself. 

The only consideration which I would now ask for the en- 
terprise at the hands of your Highness, is the prompt per- 



384 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

forinance by your Government, without further delay, of a 
sim|)le act of justice, justice to my client, which, speaking with 
perfect frankness, will place me in possession of a fee sufficient 
to enable me, within two years from the time of the final set- 
tlement of the claim, to commence, and, with the aid of oth- 
ers, to carry on to completion, what I profoundly and hon- 
estly regard as by far the most gigantic and progressive 
scheme which has ever yet been broached to Brazil. 

Your Highness will have perceived that, thus far, I have 
been studiously careful not to give any clew whatever to the 
nature o: the great enterprise to which allusion is here made. 
A discreet general will, under grave circumstances of situa- 
tion and resources, frequently keep his purposes and plans 
a profound secret from his own army ; and governments, as 
your Highness is well aware, often dispatch men-of-war 
against an enemy, with special instructions which even the 
admiral in command is himself neither to open nor know 
until after he shall have advanced a certain number of miles 
or hours upon the ocean. Publicity of the enterprise, in its 
present crude state, would, I fear, result only in cloudiness 
of discussion, wrangling, confusion and failure; whereas, by 
steadily and prudently pursuing the plans which I have 
already roughly outlined, I feel confident that I shall, in due 
time, be able to secure clearness of vision, regularity of 
proceeding, good order, and success. 

Let me now give to your Highness reasonable proofs of my 
perfect sincerity and good faith in thus writing concerning 
the possible issue of this long-contemplated enterprise. Be 
good enough to name to me one of your most wise and wor- 
thv Ministers of State, — a Brazilian of well-know^n integrity 
and discernment, before whom I may, in strict confidence, lay 
the principal points of my scheme; only let him, by your 
command, be responsible to your Highness, to the Emperor, 
and to myself, that, except to your Highness, to the Emperor, 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 385 

or to myself, he will not, at anytime, make the slightest men- 
tion of the nature of the enterprise during the full space of 
two years 'from the date of the final settlement of the Fiedler 
claim ; unless meanwhile, I shall have given written notice of 
earher readiness for open discussion and action in the prem- 
ises. Another requisite in the qualifications of the gentle- 
man, whomsoever he may be, is that he shall be possessed 
of a fair knowledge of the Enghsh language; as otherwise, 
my own linguistic defects being both special and general, I 
may not have the good fortune to make myself well under- 
stood. 

Columbus, by his grand ideas and achievements, helped 
very materially to immortaHze the name of Isabella of Spain, 
and, at the same time, to enliven and promote the general 
progress of the world. Whether I, in all respects a much 
humbler man than the great Italio-Spanish navigator and 
discoverer, shall have the honor, by word or deed, to add 
anything to the renown of Izabel of Brazil, or to advance es- 
sentially certain of the important interests of her vast Em- 
pire, depends, perhaps, altogether on the manner in which- 
your Highness may be pleased to take cognizance of the 
double subject of this communication. 

In any event, however, Avhatever may be the pleasure of 
your Highness concerning the proposed enterprise, I shall 
not permit myself to doubt of the just and honorable course 
which your Government will now pursue in regard to the 
Fiedler claim ; touching which I have with me all the docu- 
ments and other vouchers necessary to establish its equity 
and footing within the fimits defined in the great code of in- 
ternational law. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

Your Highness' obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 

24 



-So THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

j\IR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE. 

No. 39 RuA DA Princeza Lmperial, 
Rio DE Janeiro, July 21, 1877. 

To LIlS EXCET LEXCV THE HON. CONSELHEIRO 

DiOGO Velho Cavalcanti DE Albuquerque, 
Seeretary of State for Brazil. 
Distinguished Sir: Although I have not the honor of 
any personal acquaintance with your Excellency, yet, not be- 
ing a stranger to the good reputation which is so generally 
coupled with your name, I take the liberty of requesting 
that vou will be so obliging as to see that the accompanying 
communication, addressed to her Serene Highness, the Im- 
perial Princess Izabel, be duly presented to her, for any 
such consideration or action on her part as may seem to be 
just and expedient. 

1 have the honor to be, with great respect. 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

No. 39 Rua da Princeza Imperial, 
Rio DE Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 1877. 
Hon. William ^l. Evarts, 

Secretary of State, Washington, 
Sir: Six years ago, when I arrived at Chuquisaca, the 
then capital of Bolivia, where I found the Congress of that 
country in session, and where President Morales (who was, 
a few months afterward, shot dead by his nephew,) was re- 
siding and giving attention to public affairs, I, having special 
business with the Bolivian Government, expected to find 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 387 

at that de facto capital of the country, a Minister of the 
United States ; as we were then in full and regular diplo- 
matic intercourse with that Republic. It so happened, 
however, that, although we had in Bohvia a Minister who 
had been instructed, by Secretary Fish, to assist me in an 
effort to effect the setdement of a just claim which I had 
undertaken to collect from the Government of that Andean 
Power, yet he was quietly and permanendy residing at an 
out-of-:the-way sort of place, called Cochabamba, about 
one hundred and fifty miles distant ; the road or, rather the 
rough and narrow path to which, leading over sky-reaching 
spurs of the Andes, and along perilous precipices, whose 
lower depths seemed to run but a Htde way this side of the 
centre of the earth, was passable, barely and hazardously 
passable, only on mule-back. 

After ten days of most wearisome and doubly-dangerous 
travel, having, meanwhile, as in all other parts of Bolivia, to 
carry with me, on sumpter mules, my bed, baggage and pro- 
visions, I had the honor and pleasure to alight safely at Co- 
chabamba, in the presence of our amiable Minister, Mr. 
Markbreit, who assured me (and truly, I dare say,) that he 
had permission, from our own Department of State, to re- 
side continuously at Cochabamba, because it was and is a 
more genial and pleasant city than either Chuquisaca or La 
Paz, which are, alternately, for a year or so at a time, the 
statutorily recognized capitals of Bolivia. I had hoped that 
that was the last disappointment I should ever have to suffer 
because of not being able to find, when I had legitimate and 
important business with him, an American Minister at the 
capital of the country to which he had been accredited. But 
a second disappointment, a new disadvantage, of a similar 
kind, has now befallen me in Brazil. Three weeks ago I 
arrived here, with the purpose of prosecuting against this 
Government the Fiedler claim, in relation to which I had 



388 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

the honor of addressing you from Paris, France, on the 4tb 
of June. The Hon. Mr. Partridge, recently here in the ca- 
pacity of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, 
had, as I am informed, left Rio de Janeiro for Europe and 
the United States, — ostensibly on mere leave of absence, but 
in reality not intending to return to Brazil, — about three 
weeks before my arrival. 

Not only is there here no American Minister, but there is 
not even a Charge d' Affaires, nor any other representative 
of our country invested with diplomatic powers. I am, 
therefore, unable to proceed regularly with my business, and 
will, I suppose, have simply to wait, with such poor patience 
as I can command, under heavy expenses and many other 
detrimental conditions, such as are common in this country 
and climate, until a new Minister from the United States 
shall have arrived at Rio de Janeiro. Yet I indulge the hope 
that President Hayes and yourself may soon find it consist- 
ent with public interests, and promotive of justice and com- 
ity in international intercourse, to dispatch to Brazil one of 
our most able and upright statesmen, an experienced diplo- 
matist, who, by his wise and faithful services, will honor aHke 
the great Republic of his- citizenship, and the vast Empire 
to which he will come as an Envoy. Please also let our new 
Minister come instructed to use his good offices in assisting 
me to settle, upon principles of equity, the Fiedler claim ; 
for I am confidentially and credibly assured that Brazil, 
during the continuance of the present strange and calamitous 
development of anthropological supremacy hereabout,— con- 
stituted as it is of a most heinous and hideous hybridity of 
Portuguese and negroes on the one hand, and of Indians 
and mulattoes on the other, — will not, at any time, pay any- 
body nor anything, unless she be closely and repeatedly 
urged to the performance of her duty in that respect by one 
possessing both the right and the ability so to urge her. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 389 

Another point: Of late years our Ministers here have 
resided, all the year round, at Petropolis, which is to the cap- 
ital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, much the same that Long 
Branch, during the Presidency of General Grant, was to the 
capital of the United States, Washington City. This per- 
manent residency of our Ministers at PetropoHs — which is 
not the capital of the country to which they come accred- 
ited, — has, as I am well assured, been a source of great 
inconvenience and disadvantage to every American citizen 
in Brazil, who has had occasion to require their services ; 
the trip to Petropohs and back to Rio de Janeiro generally 
consuming three or four days' time, and thirty dollars, more 
or less, in the way of necessary and unavoidable expenses. 
I would respectfully suggest therefore, that, henceforth, our 
Ministers to Brazil be required to reside in or near the 
capital of the country, Rio de Janeiro, during the time, at 
least, that the Emperor and the Parliament hold their own 
persons and sessions here, which, as a general rule, is not 
less than eight months in the year. During some years the 
Emperor never goes to PetropoHs at all. At no time, in no 
year, does either he himself or any one of his Ministers ever 
transact there any public business. All the official business 
of the Empire whether legislative, judicial, or executive, is 
transacted only at the capital, Rio de Janeiro. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant. 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MR. JORDAN. 

Rio de Janeiro, August 6, 1877. 
Edward Jordan, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: Without waiting to hear from you in reply to 



390 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



any of my letters from London and Paris, I may now 
inform you that I duly presented here, on the 21st ultimo, 
to Her Serene and Imperial Highness Izabel, the Princess 
Regent of Brazil, through her Secretary of State, the Hon. 
Conselheiro Diogo Velho Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, our 
Fiedler claim against this Government; but thus far, for 
reasons which I am not well able to explain, I have received 
no answer to my communication. 

Yesterday, however, — I may just as well say it to you as 
it was said to me, — I was informed by an intimate friend of 
Baron Cotegipe, the Brazilian Secretary of the Treasury, to 
whom, as also to his friend, my informant, I brought letters 
of introduction, that it was thought Brazil ought not to pay, 
and would not pay, the Fiedler claim, — and for the reasons 
(equivocal and flimsy as they are,) which have already been 
given in the Report made to the Emperor, in 1873, by His 
Majesty's Council of State. 

As, however,,this infoimation is unofficial and from mere 
hearsay, I can, of course, take no serious notice of it. 
Thus, during a period of at least two weeks, that is to say, 
since the 21st ultimo, I have been, and am still, simply in 
suspense, awaiting the reply of the Brazilian Secretary of 
State to my letter ; but His Excellency seems to be in 
no hurry; and Heaven only knows how much longer I may, 
in this manner, be compelled to practice, seemingly, if not 
in reality, the virtues of patience and forbearance. 

What is now most against me is the fact that we have 
here, at this time, no American Minister, nor even a Charge 
d' Affaires; no representative higher than aConsul-General, 
Mr. Hinds, who assures me that, so long as Brazil remains 
in her present unprosperous condition, she will not pay our 
claim, nor any other claim, however just, unless she be 
actually forced to do so. From all I have thus far been able 
to learn, it is probable that little or nothing can be done in the 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 39 I 

absence of a Minister of the United States at Rio de Ja- 
neiro; and if any one has yet been appointed to succeed -Mr. 
Partridge, who, it is said, has resigned absolutely, and will not 
return to Brazil, I have not seen any notice of the appointment, 
Mr. Partridge left here, as I am informed, about three weeks 
before my arrival. The Emperor's continued absenteeism 
from Brazil, — he is still sojourning in Europe, — is also an 
unfortunate circumstance for us in the Fiedler case. Yet it 
is sincerely hoped and expected that His Majesty will return 
to Rio de Janeiro not later than two months hence. If it be 
necessary, and I dare say it will be necessary, I shall await 
his coming. I trust that President Hayes and Secretary 
Evarts will not permit our mission here to remain vacant 
much longer. It ought to be filled immedia,tely by a native 
citizen, — a real American, — who should be a statesman and 
diplomatist of first-rate character and ability. Can you not 
do something to hasten the coming of such a Minister ? 
Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE. 

Rio de Janeiro, August 22, 1877. 
To His Excellency the Hon. Conselheiro 

DiOGO Velho Cavalcanti de Albuquerqce, 
Secretary of State for Brazil. 
Distinguished Sir: Full four weeks ago, that is to say, 
on the 2 1 St ultimo, I, as a citizen of the United States, and 
as the duly authorized attorney for the claimant, had the 
honor to address your Excellency on the subject of the 
Fiedler claim against Brazil ; but up to the present time I 
have not had the honor to receive from your Excellency 



392 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

anything in reply. It is not my fault, though it may be 
my misfortune, that there is now no American Minister here, 
through whom I might, in accordance with international 
usage, in cases of this kind, present my claim to the Brazil- 
ian Government. As, howe\'er, the case is in reality very 
plain and very just, I feel warranted in requesting that, un- 
der the circumstances of my being here alone on this busi- 
ness, your Excellency will so far dispense with the mere 
formalities of diplomacy, as to designate an ab.e and up- 
right official, or a number of such officials, representing 
Brazil, before whom I may appear with my documents, and 
with whom I may equitably and finally settle the said claim. 

In consideration of the fact that this claim against Brazil, 
founded as it is upon principles of both law and justice, has 
already been pending nearly ten years, I trust that your Ex- 
cellency may perceive that now is a proj^er time to bring it 
to a right conclusion. Almost the only objection which 
Brazil has hitherto urged, or can urge, in defence of her 
non-recognition of the claim, is the allegation (strange, ex^ 
traordinarily strange as it is, indeed, it being in direct oppo- 
sition to the statements contained in the letter of the 
Brazilian Charge d' Affaires, Senhor H. Cavalcanti Albu- 
querque,) that Mr. Bocayuva, on the one hand, was not the 
agent of Brazil, and that Mr. Goicouria, on the other hand, 
was not Mr. Bocayuva's attorney. Now, putting aside for 
the time, all the other papers and points in the case, let us 
see exactly what Senhor Albuquerque, as the diplomatic 
representative of Brazil in the United States, did say in this 
regard, when, having been referred to, he was applied to for 
information touching the positions respectively of the said 
Bocayuva and the said Goicouria, Here is a true transcript 
of his letter: * * * 

Very difficult indeed would it be for any one to state four 
i/noorta .t facts (for flicts they were and are to Fiedler, and- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. " 393 

to Fiedler's misleading and misfortune,) more pointedly, or 
with less verbosity, than they were stated by Charge 
Albuquerque in the foregouig letter ; and I contend that, ac- 
cording to all just rules and principles of international law, 
that one letter of itself is quite sufficient to fix upon Brazil 
complete responsibility for the Fiedler claim. Yet I have 
with me much other collateral evidence, equally or more 
strong and conclusive, which I desire to adduce in support 
of the claim, and will do so as soon as your Excellency may 
be pleased to inform me before whom, when laid, it will be 
fully and fairly considered. 

Brazil may now prove beyond a doubt, if she can, that 
neither Bocayuva nor Goicouria was ever, in any manner 
whatever, connected with either her Government or her 
governnient schemes of immigration; furthermore, she may 
prove conclusively, if she can, that no such man as either 
the one or the other ever existed; that is to say, she may 
prove incontestably, if she can, that both Bocayuva -'i.nd Goi- 
couria were and are mere myths, and not men; yer, never- 
theless, there are the absolute and formal assurance^; of 
Brazil's diplomatic representative in the United States, to a 
certain citizen and shipowner of the United States ; first, 
that Bocayuva was the Agent for Brazilian Immigration ; 
second, that Goicouria was his attorney; third, that they 
had power to charter sailing vessels or steamers; and fourth, 
that he. Charge Albuquerque himself, believed the Govern- 
ment of Brazil would affirm their acts accordingly. 

If, from failure from whatever cause, to comprehend with 
precision the laws or mstructions of his Government, Charge 
Albuquerque, in his official capacity, misrepresented any 
fact to our citizen, and through that misrepresentation our 
citizen was (as he was indeed,) seriously injured in his 
business and property, it behooves Brazil, in the mainten- 
ance of her prominence as an honorable and exemplary 



394 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

power among the family of nations, to make good the words" 
of her representative in respect to that citizen ; and her re- 
course, if recourse to her be possible, must be against her 
own representative, whose inadvertent exaggerations or 
misstatements involved her in an unpremeditated obligation. 

Only a few years ago, (it is a great grief to have to men- 
tion it,) one of our own United States Ministers to Brazil 
exceeded his rightful duties in a matter of diplomacy, 
wherein Brazil, though yielding under protest to his demand*, 
for the time being, very properly held our Government at 
Washington responsible for his unauthorized and inequita- 
ble proceedings. Within a short while, however, — certainly 
in much less time than ten years, — after our Government was 
made acquainted with the facts in the case, it was pkiinly 
seen that Brazil was in the right; and so restitution with in- 
terest was made of a certain amount of money which our 
Minister had arbitrarily and illegally exacted. That was 
simply a case of holding, and rightly holding, the United 
States responsible for the anomalous conduct of one of their 
representatives. In like manner, it is but fair, it is but con- 
formable to the highest rules of international law and justice, 
that Brazil should now be held responsible for the effective 
action, Avhether in itself regular or irregular, right or wrong, 
of her own representative, through whose official assurances 
a citizen of the United States, in his own country, was misled 
into a disastrous undertaking. 

Trusting that your Excellency may .be pleased, without 
further delay, to appoint a learned and ingenuous official, or 
two or more such officials, to take into consideration all the 
facts and precedents pertaining to this claim, and to co-op- 
erate with me in soon bringing the case to an honorable and 
satisfactory adjustment, 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 39^ 

Postscript: — Touching the other matter, the great enter- 
prise projected in Brazil's behalf, which formed a subordi- 
nate part of my letter of the 21st ultimo, but which, as your 
Excellency will have perceived, is not mentioned at all in the 
foregoing communication, I may here remark, that, of itself, 
as I understand it, (and I, being the originator and as yet 
sole custodian of the scheme, ought certainly to understand 
it reasonably well,) it is not only a thing of excellence, but it 
is also a thing of dignity ; a dignity which I am not in the 
least disposed to sacrifice by any over-eager or imprudent 
presentment of its surpassing merits. If, therefore, your 
Excellency should not hear from me again on this particular 
subject, my silence may be properly attributed to what I can 
but regard as the listless indifference of Brazil to one of the 
most important measures ever yet devised for her general 
development and aggrandizement. Only this I will say in 
addition, that I am now holding myself in readiness to make 
good every word of my first letter in this respect; and that 
while the enterprise itself is of such a nature that it requires, 
for its full comprehension, the grasp of an uncommonly mas- 
culine mind, yet I should be very glad if her Serene Highness, 
the Princess Regent, after appointing one of her ablest and 
best subjects to give me an audience, in accordance with 
my suggestion, would herself condescend to be present at 
the interview, so she might prompt any examination, ask any 
question, or interpose any word or act of approbation or dis- 
approbation, which, in the judgment of her Highness, might 
be necessary for the protection and advancement of Brazil- 
ian interests. If, then, the contents of my first letter have 
been communicated to the Princess Regent, I would thank 
your Excellency to communicate to her Highness the con- 
tents of this one also; including, of course, the contents or 
at least the substance of this postscript. 

H. R. H. 



[96 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

EX-CONSUL UPTON TO THE BARON CABO 
DE FRIO. 



Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 1877. 
To His Excellency the Baron Cabo de Frio, 
Assistant Secretary of State. 

My Dear Baron: It seems that I have somewhat mis- 
apprehended the wishes of my friend, Mr. Helper, in not de- 
livering the letter which he addressed, this forenoon, through 
my hands, to Secretary Albuquerque, and which, as you will 
remember, I showed to you when I had the honor of calling 
to deliver it to your Excellency, informing you at the same 
time that I was aware of its contents, the writer himself hav- 
ing read it to me ; but which I did not deliver, because, as I 
remarked, I supposed it might not be necessary to do so in 
view of the letter from Secretary Albuquerque, which just 
then you placed in my hands for Mr. Helper. 

Meeting Mr. Helper at the United States Consulate, be- 
tween two and three o'clock this afternoon, he seemed rather 
surprised to learn that I had not delivered his letter, remark- 
ing that the circumstances under which it was written ren- 
dered it but fair and just to his client, and also to himself, 
that it should take its regular course as he intended when 
he wrote it, and stating further that he desired to be placed 
on record in the case in accordance with his communication. 

So, still wishing to serve my friend, — as, in fact, I having 
promised, he expected me to do, — I went back immediately to 
your Department, to deliver the letter absolutely, but met, 
only a few yards this side of the door, the Departmental Letter- 
Receiver and Registrar coming away from his office, who 
informed me that it was then too late (it being about tive 
minutes after three o'clock,) for him to receive and register 
the letter to-day. Inclosed with this I will take it back to 
the Registrar early to-morrow morning, and will then. deHver 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 397 

to Mr. Helper the letter from Secretary Albuquerque, which 
you handed to me for him, he preferring, he said, not to re- 
ceive it until after the delivery of his own, which, by the 
space of an hour or more, first came into my hands this 
forenoon. 

I am, my dear Baron, most sincerely, 
Your friend and servant, 

BENJAMIN UPTON. 



SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE TO MR. HELPER. 

( Unofficial.') 

(Translation.) 

Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir: I have received your letter of the 21st of 
July, together with your Memorial addressed to Her High- 
ness, the Princess Regent, to whom it has been presented ; 
and, instructed by the same august Princess, I have to in- 
form you that, if you desire to make any explanation in re- 
gard to the matter mentioned by you in connection with the 
Fiedler claim, you may, for that purpose, call upon his Ex- 
cellency the Baron Cabo de Frio. This functionary, because 
of his position as Assistant Secretary of State, and also be- 
cause of his almost perfect familiarity w^ith the English lan- 
guage, is \vorthy to receive your fullest confidence. Wish- 
ing you to accept the assurance of my consideration, 

I am, sir, yours respectfully, 
DIOGO VELHO CAVALCANTI DE ALBUQUERQUE. 

It is a somewhat singular coincidence that the foregoing 



398 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

note from Secretary Albuquerque, of the 23d of August, in 
reply to the first one from me, which was written and deliv- 
ered on the 2 1 St of July, four weeks previously, is of even 
date with my later letter complaining of His Excellency's 
having paid no attention to my opening communication. 
This note was brought and offered to me in the afternoon 
immediately succeeding the morning on which I had dis- 
patched my letter of complaint to His Excellency ; my worthy 
friend, Ex-Consul Upton, having been the bearer of both 
letters, as he himself has already particularly explained, in 
his own communication of the same date, addressed by him- 
self to the Assistant Secretary of State, Baron Cabo de Frio. 

H. R. H. 



UR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE 

Ric DE Janeiro, August 24, 1877. 
To His Excellency the Hon. Conselheiro 

DioGO Velho Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, 
Secretary of State for Brazil. 
Distinguished Sir: The letter which your ExcelL.icy 
did me the honor to address to me, under date of yes- 
terday, in reply to my communication of the 21st ultimo, 
has been received ; and although it is almost silent on the 
subject of the Fiedler claim, the subject of immediate and 
special interest which has brought me to Brazil, yet I accept, 
with much pleasure and many thanks, the reference which 
your Excellency, as Minister of Foreign Affairs for her Im- 
perial Highness the Princess Regent, has been pleased to 
give me to the Baron Cabo de Frio, on the subordinate sub- 
ject of my present business in the southern hemisphere. 
My friend, Mr. Benjamm Upton, formerly United States 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



399 



'Consul at Para, who already enjoys the honor of acquain- 
tanceship with Baron Cabo de Frio, and who speaks of him 
in the highest possible terms, as a statesman of rare ability 
and integrity, has kindly consented to introduce me to him; 
and will do so, he says, on Monday or Tuesday of next 
week, provided it will be agreeable to the Baron to receive 
us on either of those two days; but if not then, on the 
■earliest day afterward which the Baron's pleasure may des- 
ignate. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. helper: 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Rio de Janeiro, August 24, 1877. 
Hon. William M. Evarts, 

Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir: With a perfectly just cause in hand, in behalf of 
Helen M. Fiedler, executress of the estate of Ernest Fied- 
ler, of New York, an American citizen, deceased, against 
the Government of Brazil, I am yet absolutely helpless here, 
and can do nothing in the absence of an American Minister, 
unless you yourself, as the United States Secretary for 
Foreign Affairs, will kindly come to the aid of my cHent and 
myself I have requested Edward Jordan, Esquire, of New 
York, an able and distinguished attorney at law; to send you 
a copy of his synopsis of the case, as he gave it to me ; and, 
•on this same subject, I would also respectfully solicit your 
attention to the following copy of a letter which I addressed 
yesterday to the Hon. Diogo Velho Cavalcanti de Albuquer- 
,que, the Brazihan Secretary of State, who, as I have been 



400 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

verbally and confidentially assured, to-day, will not consiJei 
the case officially, or with any view of settling it, until an 
American Minister shall have arrived at Rio de Janeiro to- 
assist in re-opening the claim, in regular diplomatic order. 
You will readily perceive, therefore, what an awkward and 
vexatious position I am in here, simply because our Lega-^ 
tion in Brazil is now, — whether blamably or blamelessly, I 
will not undertake to say, — destitute of an incumbent. If 
no American Minister has yet been appointed to come to 
Brazil, will you not be good enough to instruct our worthy 
Consul-General here, Joseph M. Hinds, Esquire, to inter- 
cede with the Brazilian Government so far as to secure, if 
possible, in this tenth year of its pendency, an early and 
honest settlement of the Fiedler claim ? 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO THE BARON CABO DE FRIO. 

Rio de Janeiro, August 28, 1877. 
To His Excellency the Baron Cabo de Frio. 

Worthy Baron : Since I had the honor of an introduc- 
tion to your Excellency, in the forenoon of to-day, by my 
friends Consul-General Hinds and Ex-Consul Upton, it has 
occurred to me that, inasmuch as the stupendous enterprise 
to which I have thus far merely alluded, and which, as 
already explained, is not yet sufficiently matured for either 
execution or publicity, is one that promises to Brazil, in the 
near future, permanently and increasingly great results, it 
might, perhaps, all things considered, be fit and proper for 
both Her Highness the Princess Regent, and her noble Con- 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 40I 

sort the Count d'Eu, to be present (if Their Highnesses 
will deign to be present,) during the approaching interview 
between your Excellency and myself, when, with all confi- 
dence, I propose to lay before you, systematically and some- 
what in detail, an outline of all my plans and purposes in 
this prodigious endeavor. 

I have the honor to request, therefore, that your Excel- 
lency will be good enough to ascertain the pleasure of Their 
Highnesses in this regard ; and if they, as the highest repre- 
sentatives of Brazil now within the Empire, will vouchsafe 
their presence for the occasion, please receive, for yourself 
and for me. Their Highnesses' commands as to the day and 
hour when we may wait upon them. 

Yet in the event that it may not be convenient or agreea- 
ble to Their Highnesses to receive us for an hour's consul- 
tation upon the subject of this g:and enterprise, — an enter- 
prise which, as I fully believe, is pre-eminently worthy of the 
profoundest attention of even so great a potentate as the 
Emperor Dom Pedro II himself, if His Majesty were here, — 
you will please, speaking only for yourself, name the partic- 
ular time when I may call on you for the purpose of explain- 
ing everything to your Excellency alone, and I will call ac- 
cordingly. 

While I am decidedly of the opinion that the presence at 
our interview of both of Their Highnesses, the Princess Re- 
gent and the Count d'Eu, would be especially protective and 
promotive of the enterprise itself, and therefore helpful to 
Brazil, yet, if it would not be convenient for both of them ta 
attend, I doubt not that the merits or demerits of the under- 
taking might be more clearly established by such pertinent 
interrogatories and suggestions as either she or he might elect 
to lodge at different stages of our conference ; and for these 
reasons I trust that one or the other of Their Highnesses, if 
not both, may, for the once, be pleased to honor and assist 

2.S, 



402 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

US in our well-meaning deliberations and discussions on the 
subject. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE TO MR. HELPER. 

[Translation.] 

Rio de Janeiro, September /^, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir: After sending you my letter of the 23d of 
August, authorizing the Baron Cabo de Frio to hear what- 
ever you might wish to say in relation to the enterprise 
which you mentioned, I received the communication of the 
same date, which you addressed to me, respecting the enter- 
prise and the claim of the x\merican citizen Fidler.* 

Returning to you the "said communication of the 23d of 
August, the language of which does not permit it to be filed 
among the archives of this Department while under my 
charge, it devolves upon me to say, in reference to the 
claim, that the Imperial Government, considering it 
unfounded, have declared _ to the Legation of the United 
States of America, their conclusion not to pay it ; and as to 
the enterprise, that it is impracticable as you have proposed 
it in your letters, and in the conversation which you have 
since had with the Baron Cabo de Frio. 

*I>et the reader not fail to note the fact that, while Secretary Albu- 
querque takes exception to a pait of the language contained in my 
letter of the 23d of August, which speaks for itself, as I am quite willing 
to have it speak, he nevertheless here persumes to designate my hon- 
ored client, INIx-. Fiedler, as a " Fidler "! 

H. R. H. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



403 



Wishing you to accept the assurance of my consideration. 
I am, sir, yours respectfully, 
DIOGO'VELHO CAVALCANTI DE ALBUQUERQUE. 



In the foregoing letter, Secretary Albuquerque is just and 
polite enough not to assert absolutely that my huge enter- 
prise is in itself impracticable ; for in truth, how could he, or 
the Baron Cabo de Frio, or any one else, who had not then, 
and has never yet, heard one word in explanation of its 
real nature, form any reasonable or even intelligible opinion 
as to whether it was or was not a feasible project? He 
only says, and for this he and his Government are responsi- 
ble, that •' it is impracticable as you have proposed it in your 
letter, and in the conversation which you have since had 
with the Baron Cabo de Frio." Very well; be it so; I 
must accept the inevitable ; and in this case there are spe- 
cial considerations which lead me to accept it without unas- 
suageable grief. The very positive condition, the full 
acknowledgment and settlement of the Fiedler claim as a 
condition precedent, only on which I was in any manner 
disposed to make known the enterprise to Brazil, and to 
secure to her a prominent and important identification with 
it, not having been fulfilled by her, I had nothing whatever 
to say, and said nothing; and so the matter ended, leaving 
everybody and everything situated essentially as if no step 
in the premises had ever been proposed or taken. It 
remains to be seen, however, whether what was thus so ill- 
looking and impossible for Imperial .chicanery and stupidity 
and weakness, may not, at a period not far in the future, 
prove altogether fair and feasible for Republican integrity 



and wisdom and strength. 



H. R. H. 



404 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE. 

Rio de Janeiro, Septejiiher 5, 1877 
To His Excellency the Hon. Conselheiro 

DiOGo Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, 
Secretary of State for Brazil. 

Distinguished Sir . In reply to your Excellency's letter 
of yesterday, inclosing mine of the 23d ultimo, because of 
implied disrespect in language, I trust that you will permit 
me to disclaim, as I do most emphatically, any intention to 
have been, or to be, otherwise than entirely respectful and 
candid toward your Excellency. 

Born and reared as an humble and unpretending citizen 
of a Republic, where plainness and distinctness of speech 
are thought to have special virtues in practical life, and 
where the simplest and most direct forms of expression are 
generally used, it is very possible that some of my words 
may disclose a want of knowledge of the more courtly cir- 
cumflexions and embellishments which lend grace and fasci- 
nation to the phrases of the favored subjects of an Empire. 

[So far, however, as my own poor judgment enables me to 
arrive at anything like a correct decision in the premises, 
it is not my own humble self, but a no less accomplished 
and celebrated personage than your Excellency, who is in- 
contestably at fault on account of impropriety of language 
in this correspondence. Indeed, if one so habitually un- 
presuming as myself may be permitted to speak the truth 
straightforwardly, it is quite impossible for me to restrain my 
surprise and dissatisfaction, not to say humiliation and grief, 
at finding that your Excellency, in your letter of yesterday, 
the very letter of complaint of language, does not scruple 
to denounce and libel my deceased client, whose whole Kfe 
was singularly blameless and exemplary in all respects, as if 
he had been a hare-brained buffoon, or a harum-scarum 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 405 

vagabond. This strange denunciation of a good man 
departed, this utterly uncalled-for libel on the irreproachable 
-and hohored dead, occurs at the close of the paragraph 
wherein your Excellency inelegantly and sportively, if not 
•contemptuously and profanely, assumes to speak of my in- 
animate but worthy countryman Fiedler as " the American 
•citizen Fidler ! " How exceedingly vexatious it must in- 
evitably prove to the surviving relatives and friends of the 
deceased, that, by this unprovoked and gratuitous remark of 
your Excellency, his name is thus officially and irreparably 
linked to such an uncommendable and ridiculous occupa- 
tion, too economically spelled with only one d ! Let me as- 
sure your Excellency that Mr. Fiedler, a true gentleman of 
sterling quaUties and unblemished character, whose good 
name it is now ahke my duty and my pleasure to defend 
from the opprobrium of unmerited jeers and epithets, was 
never, whilst on earth, a "Fidler" at all; but having been 
an eminently right-minded and fair-deahng denizen of the 
world, it may, perhaps, for aught I know, not be too much 
to suppose the possibility of his now being actively and 
bHssfully musical, with voice, or instrument, or both, in a 
heavenly choir ! Never, let me again assure your Excel- 
lency, never at any period of his life, was Mr. Fiedler a 
" Fidler," nor a fiddler ; a giggler, nor a jiggler ; a higgler, nor 
a niggler ; a riddler, nor a wriggler ; a quiddler, nor a piddler ; 
nor was he ever, in any way, either the shadow or the sub- 
stance of a Jeremy Diddler. On the contrary, in the business 
world, he was always known as a highly respectable and 
justly-esteemed ship-owner and merchant ; and it is in these 
honorable and important vocations, and not as a mere 
"Fidler," that I would now unfeignedly desire and request 
your Excellency to take cognizance of his career.] 

In further reference to the Report made to His Majesty, 
the Emperor, by a number of his Honorable Councillors of 



4o6 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

State, in 1873, on the Fiedler claim, when certainly at least 
one of the essential papers in the case had been mistrans- 
lated, I have with me, as I once stated to His Majesty in 
Paris, and as I have already twice stated to your Excellency 
in Rio de Janeiro, various documents, old and new, which 
prove conclusively both the rightfulness and the tenableness 
of the claim under the law of nations ; else I have myself 
read to little or no purpose the works of Grotius, Puffendorf, 
Wheaton, Woolsey, Phillimore, Vattel, and other eminent 
publicists, whose learned treatises on international law are 
now fitly reckoned as precious jewels of just rules among a 
large majority of the more advanced nationalities. 

Whenever, whether under Her Serene Highness, the Prin- 
cess Regent, or under His August Majesty, the Emperor, it 
may be compatible with the pleasure ot the Brazilian Gov- 
ernment to permit me to present, for due consideration, all 
the vouchers I now hold in support of my client's rights, I 
shall, I doubt not, be able to establish the perfect validity 
and equity of the Fiedler claim. 

Although, much to my disadvantage and regret, I do not 
find now, on the part of your Excellency's Government, any 
disposition to grant me the privilege of proving my claim in 
the absence of a Minister of the United States, yet I indulge 
the hope that that privilege will not be denied me after such 
a Minister, — at a somewhat indefinite period in the future, — 
shall have arrived in Brazil. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 

After careful reconsideration, the long paragraph em- 
braced within brackets in the foregoing letter was entirely 
left out, whilst the other portions only were rewritten and dis- 
patched to Minister Albuquerque ; the conclusion to which 



AGAINST BRAZIL 407 

I came being that this was one of those little semi-diplomatic 
and semi-personal contests wherein, for a time at least, it 
was better to suffer a temporary and retrievable defeat 
rather than to achieve only an mdecisive and miavailing 
victory. 

H. R. H. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

. Rio de Janeiro, SepteiJiber 8, 1877. 
Hon. William* M. Evarts. 

Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir : As I have sometimes, dming the last few years, had 
occasion to ask and receive the friendly services of the Hon. 
Secretary of State of the United States, in certain matters of 
business of only a semi-official nature, between the various 
citizens of our country and three or four of the Governments 
of Soath America, with which those citizens have had deal- 
ings, I feel it incumbent on myself, as a duty which I owe 
to my own Government, to report to the Department over 
which you now have the honor to preside, any important 
fact or facts which (especially where, as here at this time, 
there is no Minister,) may come to my knowledge affecting 
the welfare or the good reputation of our pre-eminently great 
and glorious Republic. 

Yesterday was enthusiastically celebrated here as the fifty- 
fifth anniversary of Brazilian independence, Dom Pedro I 
and his brave compatriots having -shaken off the yoke of 
Portugal on the 7th of September, 1822. Within the radius 
of a stone's throw, at one of the principal places of assem- 
bly and demonstration in this city, I counted no less than 
ninety-two unfurled and waving flags, representing respect- 



4o8 . THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

ively almost every nation under the sun ; but the Star- 
Spangled Banner, the most beautiful and auspicious of 
all national ensigns, was not among them. 

Remarking the humiliating absence of our flag from 
these festivities, and inquiring of a number of my American 
friends as to the probable reason of it, I was informed by 
some that, for several years past, the diplomatic relations of 
Brazil with the United States have not, as concerns Brazil 
herself, been on a very cordial basis ; one of our Ministers 
here, within the last dozen years or so, ha ving, unfortunately 
for both his country and himself, bro ught with him to Brazil 
and carried in Brazil, a haughty head and a high hand. 
Others, of whom I made inquiry on the same subject, 
thought it probable that our flag may not have been dis- 
played with the many others, one hundred, less eight, merely 
because of an oversight, or possibly because of a scarcity 
of bunting ; the supposition bemg that, after ninety-two had 
been finished, there may not have been found enough 
material remaining to make another ! Even this slightly 
comforting supposition, however, would still leave us last 
and least in the estimation of Brazil. 

Another fact, far more inimical to the United States than 
the occasional failure to display here the non-black and 
beautiful American colors in juxtaposition with the stand- 
ards of other nations, is the almost daily publication in the 
Jornal do Commercio, of Rio de Janeiro, the most widely - 
circulated and influential newspaper in Brazil, of real or ficti- 
tious correspondence and other writings, original and 
selected, the purpose of which is manifestly and provokingly 
hostile to our country, our people, our rep ublican institu- 
tions, our system of government. This paper, the Jornal 
do Commercio, is confidentially and largely in the service of 
the Imperial Government, and is the only paper which pub- 
lishes full reports of the speeches made in the Brazilian 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 409 

Parliament. The animus of these many and constantly- 
recurring articles in the Jornal do Commercio is of a similar 
kind to that which appeared in all the Anglo-Rebel news- 
papers (of Great Britain) from 1861 to 1865, when their 
columns diurnally teemed with the grossest misrepresenta- 
tions and most doleful prophecies concerning the United 
States of x\merica, and when we ourselves had been laid 
under the direful necessity of struggling like Greeks, as 
against Trojans, to maintain the imposing completeness and 
excellence of our nationality. 

Whatever ground we may have lost here, through the 
wrong-headedness and wrong-handedness of one or more 
unworthy Ministers, we ought now to be deeply concerned 
to regain, as soon as possible, through a succession of other 
Ministers of unmistakable abiHty and integrity. A Minister 
possessed of the qualifications and virtues above mentioned, 
should certainly be in Rio de Janeiro at this very time, and 
all the time, indeed, while the American Legation here con- 
tinues to be maintained at so heavy an expense to our 
■Government as twelve thousand dollars per annum. 

Brazil, though, on her own part, is by no means faultless 
in her diplomatic relations with us ; on the contrary, she is 
jusdy chargeable with having taken many strange and de- 
vious steps, both in advancing toward us and in retreating 
from us. In a remarkably disingenuous Report now before 
me, covering twenty-eight pages of foolscap, which a com- 
mittee of her high-titled nobility made to the Emperor, 
some years ago, on the Fiedler claim, I have just counted 
no less than forty-three distinct and glaring quibbles. In 
this case I heartily wish I could fitly employ a milder word 
than quibble, and yet give proper expression to the facts as 
they exist ; but it has been absolutely necessary for me, with 
a due regard to truth and justice, and with my limited 
knowledge of the euphemisms of the English language, to 



4IO THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

use here the word quibble, or duplic ity, or Jesuitry ; and, of 
these three words, it has seemed to me that quibble is the 
one which is most fairly and gently descriptive of the shock- 
ing shifts and subterfuges of this sycophantic and scanda- 
lous script. 

It would now be a plain disregard of the higher require- 
ments of international law, as expounded by the most 
learned publicists, and also a downright injustice to Brazil 
herself, if she were not held to a rigid responsibility for the 
satisfaction of this clair.-". Even yet a very considerable 
number of Brazilian statesmen in high places need to be 
taught that there is an important and praiseworthy differ- 
ence between the straightforward diplomacy of the nine- 
teenth century and the crafty evasions and circumventions of 
mediaevel times. 

It is, I trust, but right and reasonable for me to hope and 
expect that a very able and excellent Minister of the United 
States will soon be sent hither, pointedly and strongly in- 
structed to assist me, while attending to his comparatively 
few other duties, in obtaining at last the small measure of 
justice which Brazil has, for so many years, been permitted 
to withhold from a bereaved and worthy claimant, my cHent,, 
Mrs. Fiedler. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



ACTING-SECRETARY SEWARD TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, September ii, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., 

Rio de Ja?ieiro , Brazil. 
Sir : Your letter from Paris of the 4th of June last, and 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 4II 

that from Rio de Janeiro of the 6th ultimo, relative to the 
Fiedler claim, so called, on Brazil, have heen received. In 
reply, I have to inform you that the Minister of the United 
States accredited to that government has been instructed 
upon the subject. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

F. W. SEWARD. 



MR. JORDAN TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington, September 28, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Dear Sir : Your several letters have been received, for 
which please accept my thanks. I am sorry to learn that 
the Brazilian authorities have displayed so little readi- 
ness to do justice in the matter of the Fiedler claim ; and 
especially am I surprised that those officials appear disposed 
to question what they have heretofore impHedly, if not ex- 
pressly, conceded. You will, of course, have noted the fact 
that the Imperial Council of State do not cast any doubt on 
the authenticity of Charge Albuquerque's letter, but only deny 
that that letter gave any warrant for the action of General 
Goicouria in chartering the Circassian. 

As soon as your communication of the loth of August 
reached me, I sent it to Mr. Persuhn, with a request th at 
the letter in question, the letter of Charge Albuquerque, or 
a properly authenticated copy thereof, should be furnished 
for transmission to you. On the i8th instant, I received a 
reply from him, saying that, owing to the death of Mr. Rus- 
sell Sturgis, to whom the letter was originally addressed, he 
had not yet been able to obtain or find the document itself, 
but suggesting that Mr. Stillman, the attorney for the estate 



412 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

of Mr. Sturgis, might either have it in his possession or 
know where it could be found. Accordingly, I wrote im- 
mediately to Mr. Stillman, who, however, has not yet replied 
to the note of inquiry which I addressed to him. To-day I 
have written again to Mr. Persuhn, urging him to omit no 
intelligent effort to discover the desired document, and I 
sincerely hope he may find it. 

Going to the State Department this afternoon, I took with 
me the copy of your letter to Secretary Evarts, and learned 
that the original had already been received. In conversa- 
tion with the Assistant Secretary, the Secretary himself being 
absent, I expressed the hope, as an indorsement of your own 
desire, that an able representative of our Government may 
soon be appointed to Brazil. * * * Rest assured that I 
fully sympathize with you, in view of the very difficult task 
you have in hand; but I feel confident, at the same time, 
that, if success be attainable, as I still believe it is, you will 
ultimately succeed. 

With the best wishes, yours, very truly, 

EDWARD JORDAN. 



SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, October 9, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Sir: Your letter of the 24th of August last, relative to 
the Fiedler claim, so-called, on the government of Brazil, has 
been received. In reply, I have to state that Mr. Hilliard, 
the newly appointed Minister, embarked for his destination 
:Some time since, and was subsequently instructed upon the 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



413 



subject, pursuant to your letter from Paris, the receipt of 
which was at the same time acknowledged. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 



MR. HELPER TO THE EMPEROR DOM PEDRO II. 

Rio de Janeiro, October 11, 1877. 
To His Imperial Majesty Dom Pedro II, 

Ejnperor of Brazil. 

Sire: Sincerely congratulating your Majesty on your 
safe and happy and profoundly welcome return to your 
throne, after a long absence in many of the grand and far- 
distant nationalities of the world, and having now, from a 
sense of propriety, waited upward of two weeks fOr a 
gradual subsidence of the more prolonged and enthusiastic 
ovations and festivities which your devoted subjects have 
prepared in joy and honor of your regression, I beg the 
privilege of recurring once again to the special business 
which, unable to setde in either the United States or France, 
has brought me to Brazil. Smce I had the honor of some 
very pleasant correspondence and an interview with your 
Majesty, in Paris, five months ago, on the subject of the 
Fiedler claim against Brazil, I have had here, in Rio de 
Janeiro, on the same subject, with His Excellency the Bra- 
zilian Secretary of State, the Hon. Diogo Velho Cavalcanti 
de Albuquerque, additional correspondence, which, how- 
ever, to my great regret, has not been perfectly agreeable on 
both sides. 

Permit me now to re-state to your Majesty a few brief 
facts. Invested with full and ample powers of attorney I 
hold in my hands, for collection against Brazil, a somewhat 



414 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

ancient claim, the Fiedler claim, already of nearly ten years' 
standing, which is just, and which, according to the ablest 
expositions of the principles of international law and equity, 
as laid down in the works of Vattel, Wheaton, Woolsey, 
Field, Phillimore, and other eminent publicists, the Govern- 
ment of Brazil is in honor bound to pay. This claim, with 
the principal and interest combined, up to to-day, amounts to 
a little less than $32,000. 

Although this claim was diplomatically presented to your 
Majesty's Government many years ago, and an equitable 
settlement requested, yet, owing either to mistranslation of 
some of the documents, or to misconception of certain facts 
of law and precedent in the premises, ppyment was then 
denied. It so happens that I am now here just at a time 
when, incidentally, there is no American Minister in Brazil; 
and I should like, therefore, — having already been here 
three months in this unpleasant and disadvantageous situa- 
tion, — to be favored with the privilege of seeing the case 
re-opened and reconsidered on the basis of simple justice 
and the law of nations. 

During a period of nearly eleven years, that is to say, from 
November, 1866, to the present time, I have almost daily 
and nightly, but not exclusively, busied my brain in Brazil's 
behalf with a problem which, when properly worked out into 
its preconceived reality, will, as I honestly believe, be worth 
to Brazil quite as many millions of dollars as .-,he now owes 
thousands on the Fiedler claim. At least two years more 
will be required to complete the plans for proposing publicly, 
and for beginning prudently and auspiciously, this great en- 
terprise ; an enterprise the nature of which I have never yet 
breathed to a human soul; for, for its own sake, for its own 
ultimate success, I have not dared to make it known in the 
immature condition in which it now is, and in which it 
will probably remain until I myself shall be able to expend, 



AGAiySl BRAZIL. 415 

-of my own means, and at my own option, a very considerable 
amount of money, — many thousands of dollars, — in fairly 
submitting it for the decisive judgment and energy and ac- 
tion of such men as are gifted with far-reaching wisdom, 
world-improving aims, and ample rescnrces. 

Under all these circumstances, is it too much for me to 
ask (is it not about the least thing in all the world that I 
could ask?) that your Majesty may now be pleased to co- 
operate with me in bringing the Fiedler claim to an early 
and equitable termination, so that I may soon be free to go 
on with my labors in the colossal enterprise which will, I 
doubt not, when completed, infuse into Brazil a vast amount 
of new hfe and energy and wealth and greatness?- 

In this affair, let me, if possible, not fail to be fairly com- 
prehended. The Fiedler claim, as an international cause. is 
in itself good and strong and self-sustaining. It stands, out 
distinctly and entirely on its own merits. By the law of na- 
tions, and by the laws of equity and honor, Brazil is fully and 
irreversibly bound to the payment of this claim. The only 
consideration, over and above my own resources, which I 
now ask for my gigantic enterprise (notwithstanding the fact 
that, before it can be properly matured for open considera- 
tion and action, it will yet cost me, besides much additional 
time and labor, an outlay of at least five or six thousand 
dollars,) is that Brazil will no longer delay the particular act 
of justice due from her in the Fiedler suit. Only let Brazil 
expedite equity in the Fiedler reclamation, and all will be 
well with the enterprise. 

My action in proposing, as I proposed at Paris, and as I 
now^ again propose at Rio de Janeiro, to explain,— yet to no less 
important and responsible a personage than your Majesty, or 
to one of your Majesty's household, or to a special appointee of 
your Majesty, — in strict confidence for two years from the date 
of the settlement of the Fiedler claim, the character and mag- 



41 6 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

nitude of my enterprise, must be received, if received at all, as 
simply what it is in fact ; namely, an act on my part of volun- 
tary good will and grace toward Brazil ; for which the mere 
hastening by Brazil of justice in the Fiedler affair, can be 
accepted by me as only a satisfactory offset of correspond- 
ing good will and grace on her own part toward myself. 
An Empire will then have done me a small favor, by doing 
at last an act of justice without farther postponement, in a 
time-consuming and ire-provoking matter, already of nearly 
ten years' standing ; and I shall be happy in the consciousness 
of having rendered to that same Empire a most signal and 
lasting service ; a service of infinitely greater value than the 
amount of the comparatively unimportant claim which I 
have come to collect. In point of law, Brazil will then owe 
nothing to Fiedler, nothing to me ; and I shall owe nothing 
to Brazil ; only she will, of course, in honor keep faith with 
me, and I will in honor .keep faith with her ; fulfilling all my 
promises to develop, at the appointed time, to the best of 
my ability, the grand and glorious enterprise, which, many 
years before I ever heard of even the name of Fiedler, I 
devised rudimentally in Brazil's behalf. 

In no case, in no degree, can I consent that Brazil shall 
acquire any voice or direction or control in this matter until 
I shall myself, two years or so after the settlement of the 
Fiedler claim, be ready, entirely of my own volition, to im- 
part to her, and to surrender to her, a certain power in the 
premises which, for the final consummation of the enter- 
prise itself, she will then need to exercise with all vigor and 
prudence. But until the lapse of the time thus mentioned, 
my own pleasure and judgment in the epterprise must con- 
tinue, as at present, unquestioned, absolute, supreme. 

Proposmg, as I now do, in all confidence, to submit to 
your Majesty, in writmg, a full explanation of my scheme, 
I respectfully suggest and request that your Majesty may be 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 417 

pleased to appoint a highly honorable and competent gentle- 
man, a Brazilian statesman, familiar with the English lan- 
guage, who will be wholly responsible to your Majesty, and 
to the Government of your Majesty, for the strictest obser- 
vance on his own part of perfect secrecy in this affair. Let 
him then, in the first place, call for all the papers in the 
Fiedler claim, and after carefully examining them and find- 
ing that they constitute a just and valid claim against Brazil,- 
let him, in the second place, demand of me a written pre- 
sentation of the details of my enterprise, which, after perus- 
ing and approving,, he will, I trust, from motives of wisdom 
and patriotism, and in harmony of consultation and under- 
standing with your Majesty, feel impelled to indorse and 
justify in a manner somewhat as follows: 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil^ 

October , 1877, 

Both for reasons of Justice and for reasons of State, I ad- 
vise that the Fiedler claim against Brazil, as presented to the 
Imperial Government by Mr. H. R. Helper, be paid in ac- 
cordance with the several papers, public and private, which, - 
by arrangement with His Imperial Majesty, have been sub- 
mitted to me for my consideration. This, the within princi- 
pal private paper has, by me, been thus carefully enveloped 
and sealed and placed in the custody of His Imperial Maj- 
esty, under whose orders I have so done ; His Majesty hav- 
ing been previously pleased to peruse and discuss its con- 
tents with me,xand to give to the same his august approbation. 
But this particular paper may, or may not, by the consent 
of Mr. Helper, as already given, and wholly at the option of 
the BraziHan Government, for the advancement of the Em- 
pire, be opened and published two years aftar the date of the 
final settlement of the Fiedler claim. I believe that the true 
interests of Brazil will be subserved by not opening this 

26 



4l8 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

paper, and by not publishing anything concerning it, prior 
to the expiration of the two years above mentioned. 
Respectfully submitted. 



To the foregoing proposed indorsement I should desire 
the simple addition of the word Correct, and your Maj- 
esty's signmanual thereto; and then, in that form, or in such 
similar form as might be more pleasing to your Majesty, I 
should feel quite content to let it remain in your Majesty's 
own keeping; well assured that no one would dare to tamper 
with the paper contrary to youi* Majesty's expressed wishes 
and instructions. 

As a step preliminary to the formal proceeding here pro- 
posed, I shall, if agreeable to your Majesty, take pleasure m 
waiting on you at any time that may suit your convenience, 
and which your Majesty may designate, with a full written 
outline of my really extraordinary scheme in the interest of 
Brazil. 

I have the honor to be, with perfect respect. 
Your Majesty's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY ALBUQUERQUE. 

Rio de Janeiro, October ii, 1877. 
To His Excellency the Hon. Conselheiro 

DioGO Velho Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, 

Sea'etary of State fo?" Brazil. 

Distinguished Sir : Certain facis and circumstances in 

connection with what passed between his Imperial Majesty 

the Emperor of Brazil and myself, at Paris, France, in May 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 419 

last, would seem to call for the letter which I have herewith 
addressed.to him ; and I trust, therefore, that your Excellency 
may be pleased to submit it to him for any such action as 
His Majesty's wisdom may dictate in relation to its contents. 
I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO THE EMPEROR DOM PEDRO H.* 

[*As written and held in readiness for submission to His Imperial 
Majesty's judgment, but never read nor delivered nor sent to him, for 
the reason that His Imperial Majesty was not pleased to comply with 
the writer's conditions ; conditions which have been specifically stated 
in sevei-al previous communications. Yet it is here but just and right 
for me to remark further, in reference to His Imperial Majesty Dom 
Pedro II, that he himself, a white man, a man of pure Aryan descent, 
is by far the ablest and best Brazilian whom T have ever met in or out 
of Biazil ; and it is mj firm behef that if his big-titled but black or bi- 
colored and bombastic and blundei-ing Ministers and Council of State 
had only been a little more like their august master, the Fiedler claim 
would have been amicably and equitably settled many years ago. 

H. R. H.] 



This communication is to be regarded as strictly '] 

private, for the period of two years, in comphance | 

with the conditions proposed in the last preceding ( 

letter from Mr. Helper to the Emperor of Brazil. J 



Rio de Janeiro, October \2, 1877. 
To His Imperial Majesty Dom Pedro H, 

Emperor of Brazil. 
Sire : Coming now in this manner, concordantly with 
my letter of yesterday, to an explanation of the nature of 
my subordinate and confidential business here, in connec- 
tion with the Fiedler claim against Brazil, I have the honor 



420 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

to venture the remark, that, if I am not laboring mider the 
spell of an egregious error of judgment, your Majesty will 
hardly fail to recognize at once the unequalled magnitude 
and importance of the enterprise to which I have already 
alluded, in several previous communications, when I in- 
form you that it looks to nothing less than the construc- 
tion, within thirteen or fourteen years from to-day, of a 
double-track railway, of first-class materials and workman- 
ship, from the southwestern part of Canada, or from south- 
ern Manitoba, or from the western shores of Hudson Bay, 
to that particular part of Southern Patagonia bounded or 
divided by the Strait of Magellan, — right down along or 
near the longitudinal centres of North and Central and 
South America, with lateral lines leading to the capitals of 
all the nationalities through which the main trunk will pass. 

At a later period, perhaps, yet probably not later than two 
or three generations hence, extensions may, for the profit 
and well-being of all concerned, be made northwestwardly 
through British America and Alaska to Behring Strait, and 
southwardly through Tierra del Fuego to Beagle Channel, 
and possibly beyond, even to Cape Horn. 

Animated as she is by the liberal spirit of the most en- 
lightened statesmanship of modern times, Brazil, I am fully 
persuaded, will look with none the less but rather the more 
favor on this project, because it aims at the improvement 
and elevation of other nations as well as herself. Brazil wi 1 
be benefited and advanced, and in no way injured, by a de- 
gree of welfare on the part of her sister States corresponding 
with her own prosperity ; and as with Brazil, in this respect, 
so also with all the other Commonwealths, a dozen or more, 
which are to be leagued and linked and locked together in 
inviolable unity, comity and reciprocity, as the happy recip- 
ients, during all the ages to come, of the brilliant honors and 
advantages which will accrue to them from ownership in, and 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 42 I 

connection with, the largest and best railroad on the face of 
the earth ; a skillfully constructed railroad, of steel and other 
superior silbstances, and of double-track width and facility, 
which, lying midway between the two great oceans of the 
world, will grandly and conspicuously utilize and enrich the 
length, yes, and breadth as well as length, of two continents 
to a distance, in length alone, of nearly or quite eight thousand 
miles ! If the uniquely outstretching and far-extending in- 
tercontinental railway thus contemplated should ever be con- 
structed all the way from Behring Strait to Cape Horn, or 
from a particular point ta a specified locality in proximity to 
those widely-separated places respectively, following the de- 
flections suggested in the last foregoing paragrah, then the 
entire length of the road will be not less than ten thousand 
miles ! 

Besides the almost incalculable advantages of a material 
nature which this road, with its great Brazilian branch, will 
bring to the vast dominions of your Majesty, to Brazil will 
also belong the honor of having been the place where the 
idea of building it originated; for my first thought on the 
subject (whilst writhing under the tortures of a terrible attack 
of seasickness, during a three days' tempest, sixty miles or 
so off the coast of Brazil, in the very latitude of Rio de Ja- 
neiro, in November, t866, I being then in course of my first 
return from the x\rgentine Republic to the United States,) 
was only suggestive of a road from Rio de Janeiro to New 
York ; and from that thought, good as it was in itself, but 
less feasible, has been gradually evolved the immensely 
larger and better scheme here partly presented. 

It is but reasonable to hope and believe that, directly and 
indirectly, by an adequately elongated straightforwardness 
of the main stem, and by a judicious deflection of its 
branches, the railway thus projected is to become a general 
diffuser of peace, prosperity and plenty throughout most of 



42 2 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

the larger and better portions of the New World. Yet, in 
the very nature of things, Brazil in South Ameiica, and the 
United States in North America, will probably be greater 
gainers by the road (though not, it may be supposed, in 
proportion to territory,) than any other two countries. It is 
believed, moreover, that by the general and dextrous use of 
certain of the latest and best inventions in the art of rail- 
road-building, the vast system of railways here contem- 
plated can be constructed at less cost per mile (on the 
average, and in comparison of conditions of Nature and 
quantities and qualities of performance,) than any similar 
work that has ever yet been done in any part of South 
America. 

This, then, thus briefly, is the most significant part of the 
outline of the enterprise which, with all due deference, I 
have the honor to submit for the consideration of your 
Majesty ; and for the consummation of which, including the 
eastern and western branches of the main road, the enor- 
mous sum of three hundred millions of dollars, more or less, 
will probably be required; every dollar of which amount 
can, I think, at the proper time, and under proper guaran- 
tees of interest, — at a rate not exceeding six per cent, per 
annum, proportionately divisible in its obligations among all 
the nations to be benefitted by the road, — be easily raised in 
the United States. 

Only there are certain somewhat voluminous, and as yet 
incomplete details (such as showing specifically how the 
several States of South and Central America and Mexico 
may, respectively in one or two or more ways, for their own 
advantage, bear a fair ratio of the burden of the undertak- 
ing,) concerning which I do not deem it necessary ta 
venture a definite or written opinion at this time. A fitter 
time, not more than two or three years hence, (nearly eleven 
years already have I silently studied these problems,) will, I 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



423 



trust, afford me the occasion to present, in a well-digested 
and practical form, all the details to which I have here and 
elsewhere referred. 

Meanwhile, in order that I may be free and able to work 
out these details in the best possible manner, — a task by no 
means simple, nor exempt from either labor or expense, — I 
only ask that your Majesty will be good enough to do now, 
or cause to be done, what it is but right that Brazil should do 
in any event, even though she should be found to be wholly 
regardless of the gigantic scheme here submitted for her bet- 
terment, and for making all American interests mutually con- 
vergent and helpful to each other, and that is to command, 
or at least recommend, speedy justice to my client. 

Let the Fiedler claim be paid. It is a just claim, already 
of nearly ten years' standing, and might certainly, with all 
propriety, have been paid long before this time. The entire 
sum due on this claim, with interest, at six per cent, per an- 
num, from the date of Chevalier Fleury's advice to Mr. 
Fiedler to abandon the voyage, December 18, 1867, up to 
the T8th instant, October 18, 1877, amounts to only $31,- 
800; and this, too, to a citizen of the United States, a coun- 
try which bought from Brazil, last year, coffee and other South 
American products of the value of nearly $46,000,000; while 
Brazil bought from the United States, during the same time. 
North American products of the value of but little more than 
$7,000,000. So that with a mere fraction, so to speak, of 
the enormous balance of trade against us, as between the 
United States and herself, Brazil can easily pay off this obli- 
gation. 

For Brazil's sake, for the claimant's sake, and, above all, 
for the sake of justice itself, cause this ten years' claim to be 
paid within the next two months, (why not within the next 
two weeks?) and I can then promise at least a fair possibili- 
ty, radiant with the roseate hues of probabiHty, that your 



424 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



Majesty may, on a certain Saturday morning, not more than 
fourteen years hence, take a special train from Rio de Janeiro, 
.and arrive in New York, amid demonstrations of the most 
hearty welcome, in the afternoon or evening of the following 
Saturday, if not sooner. Besides, your fare and other gen- 
eral accommodations, all along the route, shall be quite as 
good as those obtainable in any of .the better sort of hotels ; 
and in thus making an overland pleasure excursion f rom'the 
greatest city in South America to the greatest city in North 
America, your Majesty will, in 1891, a little earlier or a little 
later, unlike your Majesty in 1876, avoid along voyage, sea- 
sickness, storms at sea, and all the other discomforts and 
perils incident to ocean travel. 

It is intended that the numerous sections of the un- 
matched and unmatchable intercon tinental railway here pro- 
posed, shall be so equally and perfectly finished and inter- 
locked, into a single line of vast longitudinal stretch, as to 
f constitute, in this nineteenth century, and in all the centuries 
to come, one of the most palpable and imperishable proofs 
of the superiority of North American and South American 
and Central American energy, ingenuity, enterprise, integ- 
rity, honor and achievement ; and while no part of the road 
itself, the tunnels, the bridges, or the viaducts, no part of 
the rolling-stock, or other property or appurtenances of the 
road, must be other than first-class in all respects, yet every- 
thing, including the obtaining from Governments of the 
necessary charters and franchises, must be done with such 
€xact rectitude and economy, that, from the beginning to the 
end of the work, not so much as one dollar shall be use- 
lessly, extravagantly or corruptly expended. 

x\nother very important condition which it is desirable 
shall be well understood and established in relation to this 
road of roads, is that a strip of territory of reasonable 
/ width, on both sides of the main stem, shall be declared 



• AGAINST BRAZIL. 425 

and forever maintained as neutral ground to all belligerents ; 
that the r®ad itself shall never be interrupted in its regular 
schedules' of daily working, nor used in any manner what- 
ever for facilitating military movements, or for other pur- 
poses of war; and that any nation or faction daring to vio- 
late this signally beneficent compact of peace and improve- 
ment, shall at once become the common enemy of all the 
other parties to the agreement, and be punished accordingly. 

Superior lines of telegraph along the entire length of all the 
Toads here projected, are held in view as collateral improve- 
ments which it will be well to construct simultaneously with 
the roads themselves ; so that, in this way, correspondence 
may be greatly facilitated, business promoted, and the invin- 
cibly powerful and widespread family of American national- 
ities, occuppng all the territory between the Artie Regions 
and Cape Horn, and harmoniously allied with each other in 
the industrial development and enhghtening march of peace- 
ful and prosperous and progressive civilization, may be re- 
spectively heard from, in accents of sisterly greeting and fra- 
ternal emulation, every morning at the breakfast-table. 

Under the existing condition of things, the one great de- 
sideratum of Brazil, at this particular time, is the development 
of her exhaustless internal resources ; and these resources 
she can develop only by enlarging her facilities for internal 
communication. Whilst heretofore Brazil has laudably and 
liberally encouraged the growth and extension of her inter- 
ests without, that is to say, her interests on water, yet it 
seems to me that she has, meanwhile, given too little atten- 
tion to her interests within, that is to say, her interests on 
land. The grand and mighty railway, with its many con- 
nections, which I now propose for Brazil, will act upon her 
much the same as the heart, the seat and center of life, acts 
upon the human organism ; by channels of radiation in 
every direction, it will vigorously dispense its vitalizing forces 
to the very extremities of the Empire, and help very obvi- 



426 THE FIEDLER CLAIM * 

ously and largely to impart prosperity and happiness to mil- 
lions upon millions of grateful souls. In short, the road will 
be of immense usefulness and profit to Brazil, a benefit to 
every other nationality in South America, and an advantage, 
without exception, to all the States ^and other Common- 
wealths of North America. How high the privilege, how great 
the honor, and how certain and glorious the gain, to be en- 
gaged, as Brazil may now engage herself (at the cost of only an 
act of justice in another matter of comparative insignificance,) 
in the joint inception and furtherance of a work so vast and 
so good ; a work which, when completed, will conduce to the 
marvelous and ever-increasing welfare of nearly half the 
world! In the course of my letter to your Majesty, in Paris, 
France, five months ago, I said, in allusion to this great 
railway scheme, that, if successfully carried out, it would, in 
time, as I believed, give back to Brazil at least one hundred 
dollars for every dollar which she will pay me on the Fiedler 
claim. Your majesty or any other just-minded and clear- 
sighted personage, may now decide whether, if, in that opin- 
ion, I had used the ten times greater numeral thousand, in- 
stead of " hundred," I would not have been much nearer 
to the prospective and probable facts. Not only will the 
great Empire of your Majesty, by the consummation of this 
enterprise, gain very largely in trade and money, but it will 
also, at the same time, gain immensely in white immigra- 
tion, which is the only sort of immigration that can hence- 
forth be decently or respectably useful to Brazil or to any 
other country,— and in general improvements ; so that, in 
this way, the Fiedler affair, which at first might seem to 
have been a minor misfortune, may at last prove to be one 
of the greatest possible blessings to Brazil. So may it 
prove ! 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully. 
Your Majesty's obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 427- 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER HILLIARD. 

Rio de Janeiro, October 15, 1877. 
Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of 
the Republic of the United States of Af?ierica to the 
Efnpire of Brazil. 

Sir : Permit me to extend to you my sincere congratu- 
lations on the fact of your arrival here, yesterday, in good 
health, and under other desirable conditions, as Envoy Ex- 
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the Republic 
of the United States of America to the Empire of Brazil. I 
trust that your mission here may prove highly honorable and 
satisfactory to yourself, and conspicuously and lastingly ad- 
vantageous to both the Republic and the Empire. 

More than three months ago, that is to say, on the loth 
of July, I arrived at Rio de Janeiro, under power of attorney 
to settle the claim of Ernest Fiedler, of New York, a citizen 
of the United States, against the Government of Brazil ; 
and was much disappointed and chagrined to learn that 
your honorable predecessor in our Legation here, Mr. Par- 
tridge, had sailed hence for Europe and the United States, 
about three weeks previously. Under these circumstances, 
I indulge the hope that you will kindly excuse me for com- 
ing before you, so soon after your arrival in this city, with a 
matter of international business, which you will find fully 
explained in the seventeen inclosures herewith, and which, in 
order to facilitate you in perusing them intelHgently, I will 
now particularize as follows, respectfully requesting your 
attention to the same seriatim : 

J/^o. I. Power of Attorney from Helen M. Fiedler, 
executress of the last will and testament of Ernest Fied- 
ler, deceased, to Mr. Hinton Rowan Helper; May 5, 1876. 

JVo.. 2. Letter, dated March 15, 1867, from Charge d' 



428 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Affaires Albuquerque, the diplomatic representative of Bra- 
zil in the United States, to Mr. Russell Sturgis, giving in- 
formation, in reply to inquiries on the subject, that Mr. 
Quintino de Souza Bocayuva was the agent in the United 
States for Brazilian Immigration ; that Mr. Domingo de 
Goicouria was Mr. Bocayuva's attorney; and that he, Charge 
Albuquerque, believed his Government, the Brazilian Gov- 
ernment, would approve whatever might be done by the said 
agent, or by the said attorney. If it be true that a mer- 
chant is responsible for the acts of his clerk, that a banker 
is responsible for the acts of his cashier, or that a govern- 
ment is responsible for the acts of its diplomatic representa- 
tive ; if it be true that there is anything of international 
value in the writings of Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel, Philli- 
more, Wheaton, or Woolsey, or anything worthy of diplo- 
matic regard in the dissertations of any other learned and 
distinguished publicist, then, whether, in reality, either 
Bocayuva or Goicouria was, or was not, the agent or sub- 
agent of Brazil, whether either or both were alive or dead, 
or whether, in fact, the one or the other, as man or as 
myth, ever existed, there can be no ingenuous question at 
all about Brazil's unevadable responsibility in this case. 

No. ?. Charter-Party of the "Circassian;" August 21, 
1867. 

No. 4. Charter-Party of the " Marmion ;" March 16, 
1867. 

No. 5. Mr. Goicouria to Mr. Fiedler; November 23, 
1867. 

No. 6. Mr. Fiedler to Chevalier Fleury; December 17, 
1867. 

No. 7. Chevalier Fleury to Mr. Fiedler; December 18, 
1867. 

No. 8. Mr. Fiedler to Chevalier Fleury ; December 18, 
1867. 



No. g. ] 


6, 1868. 


No. 10. 


8, 1868. 


No. II, 


1870. 


No. 12. 


1870. 


No. 13. 


Pedro II, by 


namely, the 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 429 

Mr. Fiedler to Minister Magalhaens ; FeLruary 
Minister Magalhaens to Mr. Fiedler ; February- 
Minister Blow to Mr. Fiedler; September 22^ 
Minister Blow to Mr. Fiedler: November 28, 

Report made to his Imperial Majesty Dom 
three of his high-titled Councillors of State, 
Viscount de Souza Franco, the Marquis de 
Sapucahy, and the Viscount do Bom Retiro, attested by 
the Baron Cabo de Frio, formally and solemnly denying 
Brazil's responsibility in the premises. This aberrant 
Report covers twenty-eight pages of foolscap, and contains 
forty-three misstateiJients of law and fact ; but further, on 
this particular point, I deem it prudent to say nothing, not 
daring, as a mere private individual and petitioner, to sub- 
ject my hot head, in this calorific cHmale, to any elaborative 
service in a task wherein such an extraordinary amount of 
coolness and forbearance are required. 

No. 14. Affidavit of Charles P. Persuhn; March 17, 
1876. 

No. IS. Affidavit of Capt.T. S. Ellis; March 18, 1876. 

No. 16. Mr. Helper to the Hon. Edward Jordan ; May 
2, 1876. 

N'o. ly. Hon Edward Jordan, (formerly SoHcitor for 
the United States Treasury, under Secretary, afterward 
Chief-Justice, Chase,) to Mr. Helper; May 6, 1876. This 
brief from Mr. Jordan is a masterly resiwie of the whole 
case. 

In addition to the papers enumerated above, you will find 
others of importance bearing upon this claim among the 
archives of the Legation ; and these several papers, as I 



43° 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



doubt not you will perceive on examination, constitute a 
very clear and strong case against the Government of Bra- 
zil. The long and devious steps which Brazil has hitherto 
taken in diplomacy, to delay on the one hand, or to defeat 
on the other, the ends of equity in this matter, are both glar- 
ing and grievous, and are not to be borne hereafter with 
either silence or patience As it is now nearly ten years since 
the claim has been pending, and I am here, as I have been 
for the last three months, in the absence of an American 
Minister, on expenses and with nothing else to do but solicit 
justice to my injured client and fellow-citizen, I trust. that 
you will, in your official capacity, be good enough to co-op- 
erate with me in honorably adjusting the reclamation with 
the least additional postponement possible. 

1 have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MINISTER HILLIARD TO MR. HELPER. 

United States Legation, 
No. 9 RuA DO Marquez de Abrantis, 
Rio de Janeiro, November 20, 1877. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Sir : I called at the Department of Foreign Affairs yes- 
terday, and had an interview in regard to the Fiedler claim. 
If it will be convenient for you to call on me at two o'clock 
this afternoon, do so, and I will report the result. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, yours, 

HENRY W. HILLIARD. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 43 1 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER HILLIARD. 

Rio de Janeiro, November 22, 1877. 
Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, 

United States Minister. 

Sir: When I first took in hand the claim of Ernest 
Fiedler, of New York, a citizen of the United States, against 
the Government of Brazil, it was my intention to prosecute 
it in strict conformity with the established rules of artless 
and honest diplomacy until the i8th day of December, 1877, 
(if not sooner settled,) on which date the tenth year of the 
existence of the said claim will have elapsed ; and then, 
finding Brazil still perverse and persistent in her apparent 
purpose not to pay the amount so obviously due from her in 
the premises, it is my determination to carry the case into 
the Congress of the United States, and there petition my 
own Government for a bill which will secure to my fellow- 
citizen and client the measure of justice which Brazil has 
thus far, unheedful of the lucid requirements of the code 
of international law and equity, dared to withhold. 

This determination on my part I have already had the 
honor of stating to you verbally, on at least three different 
occasions. Yesterday afternoon you returned to me the 
seventeen vouchers, covering the case, which I had the 
honor to transmit to you on the 15th ultimo, informing me, 
at the same time, that the Government of Brazil refuses 
positively to pay the claim, and declines even to peruse the 
papers which plainly prove the validity and rightfulness of 
the reclamation. Because of this unworthy mood and action 
on the part of the imperial and delinquent government, I am 
sorely surprised and disappointed. I had thought and 
hoped and believed better things of Brazil. Permit me to in- 
quire: Am I now to consider myself debarred, from pro- 
ceeding further with this suit in Brazil ? If so, having no 



432 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Other business here, I shall remain only a few days longer 
in Rio de Janeiro. 

As the attorney for the claimant, with full powers, I would 
be willing to submit the matter to the arbitration of three 
foreign Ministers, Brazil naming the first, you the second, 
and they two the third. Or any other fair and simple 
method of arbitration -which the Brazilian Government and 
yourself might mutually agree upon, would be satisfactory 
to me, and final to Fiedler. Pray be so kind as to ascertain 
for me the disposition of Brazil in regard to this proposition ; 
and if she accepts it, you may, if you please, act upon it 
immediately in my behalf. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER HILLIARD. 

[Private Note.] 

Rio de Janeiro, November 22, 1877. 
Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, 6^^., &=€., &'c. 

Dear Sir : It seems to me that the arbitrary and unjust 
decision of the matter mentioned in the accompaying com- 
munication, is, most Hkely, only the decision of Secretary 
of State Albuquerque, or of Baron Cabo de Frio, or of 
both, and not the decision of the Emperor himself. There 
ought certainly to be found some simple means of righting 
a gross wrong like this. My suggestion for easy arbitra- 
tion in the premises may possibly be accepted ; and if so, I 
shall be quite content to abide by the finding of the arbi- 
ters. Might it not be worth your while, as the American 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 433 

Envoy, to call on the Emperor and explain to him frankly 
the course which the claimant's attorney is resolved to pur- 
sue, if the present decision of His Majesty's Ministers be 
sustained and adhered to, and the possible, if not probable, 
consequences to Brazil ? 

I am, dear sir, yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MINISTER HILLIARD TO MR. HELPEP 

Rio de Janeiro, November 23, 1877 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : It would afford me sincere pleasure to act in 
accordance with your suggestion, in your note of yesterday, 
looking to the adjustment here of the Fiedler claim by arbi- 
tration, if my instructions permitted ; but as they do not, I 
must respectfully decline. 

My conversation with Baron Cabo de Frio was informal; 
but it satisfied me completely that it would be a task at 
once hopeless and vexatious to attempt to influence the 
Government of Brazil to change its decision in regard to 
the Fiedler claim. Of course it would be very agreeable to 
me personally to have you remain here while I stay ; but I 
may repeat my assurance, that it would now be only a waste 
of time to press upon this Government the views which you 
entertain of your client's rights, and in which I fully concur. 
Very respectfully and truly yours, 

HENRY W. HILLIARD. 



434 ' THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

NEW PROOFS FROM BRAZIL'S OWN ARCHIVES. 

Consulate-General of the^ 
United States of America, ! 
AT Rio de Janeiro Brazil, ( 
November 29, 1877. J 

I, Francis M. Cordeiro, Vice-Consul-Generai of the 
United States of America, at Rio de Janeiro, (in the ab- 
sence from Brazil of Consul-General Joseph M. Hinds,) do 
hereby certify that, at the instance of Mr. Hinton Rowan 
Helper, I have this day examined the Diario Official do Iinpe- 
rio do Brazil, oi July 21, 1867, and have therein found, on 
the first page, fourth column, in Portuguese, as appears vei> 
batim on the fourth page of this certificate, and here translated 
into Enghsh, the two following items, the same, in regular 
order of pubfication, being brief memoranda and information 
of certain official dispatches from the Brazilian Government : 

1. "A dispatch to Quintino de Souza Bocayuva, advising 
him that his action in transporting to New York the one 
hundred and fifty shipwrecked persons from the brig Derby, 
bound from Galveston to this port, is approved." 

2. " A dispatch to the same, informing him that the Gov- 
ernment is duly advised of his having appointed, as his 
substitute in New York, the merchant Domingo de Goi- 
couria." 

I further certify, that, in the Diario Official do Imperio 
do Brazil, of the 27th of September, 1867, on the second 
page, and in the second column thereof, the following item 
ap[)ears in Portuguese, as copied verbatim on the fourth 
page of this certificate, and here translated into English, 
thus : 

3. " A dispatch to Domingo de Goicouria, informing him 
that he is relieved from the obligation which he was under 
to charter steamers for the transportation of North American 
immigrants." 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



435 



In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
affixed the seal of this Consulate-General, this the 29th day 
of Novehiber, 1877. 

[l. s.] FRANCIS M. CORDEIRO, 

Vice- Consul- General. 

The foregoing Consular certificate, verifying certain stub- 
born facts explanatory of Brazil's indisputable intercourse 
with, and authority over, both Bocayuva and Goicouria, as 
her regularly recognized agents for purposes of immigration, 
deals only, as will have been observed, with openly pub- 
lished fragments of the Brazilian archives. As a matter of 
course, however, the unpublished and secret records of the 
Imperial Government at Rio de Janeiro, if they could be 
examined, would show much more fully, if not more plainly, 
the guilty collusion and connection and conduct between 
the said country and her said agents. 

H. R. H. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER HILLIARD 

Rio DE Janeiro, November 29, 1877. 
Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, United States Minister. 

Sir: Whilst in this capital, from the loth of July to the 
14th of October, in the absence of an American Minister, it 
came to be convenient for me, from time to time, to lay the 
papers relating to the Fiedler claim against Brazil, before 
several estimable citizens of the United States, permanently 
or temporarily residing in Rio de Janeiro ; among whom I 
may mention Consul-General Hinds, Ex-Consul Upton, 
Maj. James, Mr. Shannon, Mr. Longstreth, Prof. Hartt, and 
Dr. Wilson. All these gentlemen, having respectively ex- 



436 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

arained and considered the facts in the case, have unhesita- 
tingly expressed their judgment in favor of the claimant, de- 
claring their conviction that it is clearly the duty of Brazil to 
pay the money (notably just and moderate as to the 
amount claimed,) for which the widow Fiedler's attorney has 
here recently, heretofore and elsewhere, duly presented an 
account. 

The amount thus claimed is, as you are aware, only 
twenty thousand dollars, (it being less than one-half of the 
sum which was formally and legally agreed upon for the par- 
ticular service required,) with interest thereon, at the rate of 
six per cent, per annum, from the i8th day of December, 
1867, — the date of the letter of Chevalier Fleury, Brazil's 
Charge d' Affaires in the United States, to Mr. Fiedler, ad- 
vising him to relinquish the pre-determined and pre-stipula- 
ted voyage, for which, during the period of four months, so 
many and such expensive preparations had been made. 

If your views in this case are in harmony with the opin- 
ions of the seven sagacious and substantial gentlemen named 
above, — and, having patiently perused all the papers, your 
views of the legal and moral merits of the claim can hardly 
be otherwise than quite correct,^will you not be kind 
enough to say so specifically, and thus favor my client and 
myself, and at the same time favor Right as against Wrong, 
with the value of your own more able and weighty judgment ? 
Such an expression of opinion from you, given in virtue of 
your comprehensive knowledge of the matterat issue, would, 
I doubt not, be of fair service to the claimant ; and it might, 
moreover, I dare say, eventually be of signal service in the 
general cause of international justice and honor. 

I am, sir, with sincere regard, yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 437 

MINISTER MILLIARD TO MR. HELPER. 

Legation of the United States, 
Rio de Janeiro, December i, 1877. 
Hinton R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : As I have already said to you, an examina- 
tion of the papers submitted to me in support of the Fiedler 
claim against the Government of Brazil, has satisfied me 
that the claim is at once just and moderate ; and it seems 
to me that it should be recognized and paid in full. I am 
not, therefore, surprised to learn that our American citizens 
here, to whom you have shown the papers,, concur in this 
view. Every consideration recommends this claim. Not only is 
it based on grounds which make it good in law ; but even 
if any technical objection could be raised against its vaHd- 
ity, still in equity I do not see how it can be disregarded or 
set aside. 

Mr. Fiedler might well have claimed the full amount 
named in the contract, when, at the suggestion of the repre- 
sentative of the BraziHan Government, he withdrew his ves- 
sel from New Orleans, and did not sail for Rio de Janeiro. 
In consideration of the circumstances at the time, he gener- 
ously proposed to receive twenty thousand dollars for his 
claim, when he might have demanded the paymei. " forty- 
two thousand dollars, as he was ready to perform his con- 
tract in every particular. 

It seems to me that, in proposing at this time to receive, 
with interest, twenty thousand dollars in satisfaction of the 
claim, you show commendable moderation. 

As the claim is based on a contract, I can only aid you 
with my good offices, which I have cheerfully extended to 
you ; and I only regret that you have not met complete suc- 
cess in bringing it to the attention of the Brazilian Gov- 
ernment. I am, dear sir, very respectfully yours, 

HENRY W. HILLIARD. 



438 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Touching the present imperfect and reform able practice 
in American diplomacy, which looks only to the exercise of 
"good offices" in matters of contract between our own 
citizens and foreign governments, see Secretary Fish's let- 
ter to Mr. Helper, under date of December 11, 1872, and 
also the reply of Secretary Fish to Senator Cameron, Chair- 
man of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, dated May 
27, 1874. 

H. R. H. 



MR. HELPER TO A COMMITTEE OF AMERICAN 
SENATORS. 

Rio DE Janeiro, Brazil, Dece7nber 1, 1877. 
To THE Honorable the Senate Committee 

ON Foreign Affairs, Washington. 

Gentlemen : About to undertake a second fatiguing and 
perilous journey, on mule-back, across the continent of South 
America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, I respectfully re- 
quest that, in the event of my death within the next two 
years, — only in which event my brother, Mr. Hanson Pink- 
ney Helper, of Davidson College, North CoroHna, will for- 
ward to you this communication, — you may be pleased to 
give special attention to the subject explained in the accom- 
panying papers. 

It has been frequently remarked, and quite as truthfully as 
frequently, that every country in Europe which, for any con- 
siderable period, has ever yet enjoyed anything like a mo- 
nopoly of the trade with India, has thereby greatly enriched 
itself. By the consummation of the gigantic intercontinental 
railway-scheme proposed in the annexed communication, 
(addressed to the Emperor of Brazil, but never sent nor 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 439 

shown to him, for the reason that he has manifested no dispo- 
sition to comply with the only conditions, fair and simple as 
they were, on which I could prudently explain the matter,) 
the United States may soon be made the peerlessly powerful 
and self-protective recipient in perpetuity of the untold and 
inexhaustible riches of no less than three Indias, — ^the India of 
all South America, the India of all Central America, and the 
India of all Mexico. That is to say, all the separate and 
distinct countries in the New World south of the United 
States, and north as well as south, including moreover 
every State and Territory of the American Union itself,, 
may thus reciprocally, for their own advancement and for 
our advancement, for their own aggrandizement and for our 
aggrandizement, be at once and forever rendered plentifully 
and peacefully and prosperously tributary to the Republic of 
Republics. 

Under the regular and rightful operation of the vast sys- 
tem of railways here projected, we can, in the course of the 
next fifteen or twenty years, take permanently from Europe, 
as, by virtue of our geographical position and contiguity, 
and in consideration of our superior energy and skill, we 
ought to take, the immense trade and the profits of trade of 
the greater part of the southern hemisphere. At the same 
time, and by the same means, we shall become much more 
generally and genially and thriftily identified with that ad- 
joining but as yet comparatively undeveloped and uninhab- 
ited hyperborean region which we find delineated as forming 
such a marvelously extensive portion of our own continent. 

Gentlemen of the Com.mittee : I honestly believe that if 
you will kindly and actively and successfully carry out this 
enterprise, in all the breadth and fulness of detail suggested 
by me, and with such important improvements in plans and 
principles as you yourselves will doubtless be able to intro- 
duce, you will thereby do for your own country, and for all 



440 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

the Other countries of the New World, one of the very great- 
est services upon which you can possibly bring to bear the 
benign and far-reaching influences of your wisdom and 
patriotism. For my inception of this grand and prospect- 
ively glorious enterprise, I expect no remuneration what- 
ever, other than that which I now fihd, and shall always find, 
within the recesses of my own breast ; only I profoundly hope 
and trust that you will cause the work to be done in a man- 
ner every way worthy of American statesmanship, American 
honor, American interests, and, above all, American unity 
and nationality. 

I remain, gentlemen, most respectfully, 

Your fellow-citizen abroad, 

H. R. HELPER. 



A BROTHER'S REQUEST. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December i, 1877. 
In the rather unwelcome contingency (which may Heaven 
avert!) mentioned in the first paragraph of the accompany- 
ing letter addressed to the Senate Committee on Foreign 
Affairs at Washington, my brother, Mr. Hanson Pinkney 
Helper, at Davidson College, North Carolina, will please 
transmit all these papers to the said Committee, meanwhile 
being very careful himself not to utter even so much as a 
vowel or a consonant to any one else concerning the new 
and important project therein partly explained. 

Fraternally, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 44 1 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Hotel de la Paix, 
Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic, 
Dece?nber i8, 1877. 
Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir: Between the political immorality of the military 
and revolutionary statesmen of Bolivia on the one hand, 
and that of the monarchical and conservative statesmen of 
Brazil on the other, it would seem that there is, after all, 
but very little difference. 

I have the honor to solicit your attention to the following 
recital of certain facts: To-day completes the tenth year 
of the existence of the legal and equitable claim of Ernest 
Eiedler, a citizen of the United States, against the Govern- 
ment of Brazil; the claim having arisen out of the charter- 
ing, by an Immigration Agent for Brazil, of the steamship 
Circassian, belonging to Mr. Fiedler, on t'le 21st of August, 
1867. Hitherto the claimant and his attorney in this case 
have been humble and patient suppHcants for justice ; hence- 
forth they Vill appeal only as indignant and diligent de- 
mandants of their rights. 

The following copy of a letter addressed to Mr. Fiedler, 
by Brazil's Charge d'Affaires in the United States, the Chev- 
alier Fleury, under date of December 18, 1867, has special 
significance in this connection. 
* * * # # 

Brazil now refuses to pay this claim, because, as she al- 
leges, Mr. Bocayuva and Mr. Goicouria, her Agents for Im- 
migration, held from her.no authority nor power to charter 
steamships; and this allegation she has the hardihood to 
urge in positive conflict with the solemn and specific assur- 
ances given by her diplomatic representative in the United 
States, at the time of the chartering of the Circassian, that 



442 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

the said Agents did hold just such power ! Here follows- 
exactly what Brazil's Charge d'Affaires, Mr. Albuquerque,- 
wrote in reply to inquiries concerninf; the position of the 
two gentlemen in New York, who were there and then rep- 
resenting themselves as Imperial Agents for the encourage- 
ment and transportation of emigrants from the United 
States to Brazil. 
* * * ■ * * 

In the light of the law of nations, as I understand it, that 
one letter of itself, from Charge Albuquerque, fixes upon 
Brazil full and irrevocable responsibility for the Fiedler 
claim. The mischief having already been done by her rep- 
resentatives and agents, Brazil must not with impunity be 
permitted to unsay, at a long subsequent period, what her di- 
plomatist said for her, officially, in 1867; the first saying, 
the ministerial assurance, for which she must be held to ac- 
count, having gained the desired credence with our citizen, 
and caused, in consequence, great damage to his business 
and property. 

Besides, there are other proofs, proofs equally positive, 
that Mr. Bocayuva and Mr. Goicouria were Brazil's Agents 
for Immigration, and that their power to charter vessels for 
the transportation of emigrants has been duly and repeat- 
edly recognized by the Government of that country. In 
the Diario Official do Imperio do Brazil, of July 21, 1867, 
the two following items appear, the one immediately follow- 
ing the other, as brief memoranda of official acts of the Bra- 
ziHan Government ; it b.eing customary to pubfish, in like 
manner, memorandums, respectively and in regular order of 
occurrence, of all the official acts of the said Government. 

• 
These several papers prove conclusively that both Mr. 
Bocayuva and Mr. Goicouria were in the service of Brazil, as- 
her authorized and lawful Agents for Immigration, and that 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



443 



they, either or both of them, had power, as Charge Albu- 
querque himself gave assurance, to charter sailing vessels or 
steamers for the transportation of emigrants from the United 
States to Brazil. 

Moreover, the steamers Marmion and Catharine Whiting, 
both chartered by Mr. Goicouria, as the attorney for Mr. 
Bocayuva, precisely the same as in the case of the Circas- 
sian, performed their voyages as agreed upon, and were 
paid for their services by the Brazilian Government.- Not- 
withstanding these two striking precedents against her, how- 
ever, and notwithstanding all the other corroborative and 
incontestable facts in favor of the claimant, Brazil still 
declines to indemnify him for the damages which she occa- 
sioned to his vocation and property by non-compliance with 
her part of the contract between herself and him ; and, in 
direct contradiction of her Minister's statement, she now 
shamelessly and brazenly repeats her untruthful declaration, 
that neither Bocayuva nor Goicouria had any power from 
her to charter steamers ! 

There are more than a dozen other important papers 
which, but for their length, I might here copy in support of 
this claim ; all of which are elucidative of facts which im- 
part to it additional strength and validity. Our present 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the 
United States to Brazil, the Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, has 
patiently and carefully examined all the vouchers in the 
case ; and I here transcribe a letter which I had the honor 
to receive from him in this regard, on the 2d instant, only 
three days prior to my departure from Rio de Janeiro for 
Buenos A3Tes. 
* # * * # 

It now only remains for me to request, Mr. Secretary of 
State, that you will be kind enough to take note of the fact 
that, if the just and reasonable account, already of full ten 
years' standing, which I have thus presented against the 



444 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Government of Brazil, aggregating with principal and inter- 
est, at six per cent, up to to-day, the round sum of $32,000 in 
gold, be not paid by or before the end of seven months 
more, that is to say, by or before the i8th day of July, 1878, 
I shall immediately thereafter, if not impeded in my move- 
ments by any unforeseen obstacles, publish a pamphlet em- 
bodying all the principal facts in the case, and will send the 
same by mail or otherwise, to every American Senator and 
Representative ; and soon afterward, on the first day of the 
meeting of Congress, I shall ask that pre-eminently honora 
ble and distinguished national council for a bill of indem- 
nity against Brazil. 

If, therefore, worthy Secretary of State, you can yet give 
to our Minister in Brazil any additional instructions which 
may lead to an early and amicable adjustment of the claim, 
I entreat you to do so ; for I am really very loath to say or 
do anything that might have a tendency to disturb, even in 
the slightest degree, the harmony or w^ll-being of any of 
our international relations. Yet I certainly cannot willingly 
or quietly submit to an act of gross injustice, defiantly and 
persistently perpetrated against either my client or myself. 

It may be that, if you could feel justified in instructing 
our Minister at Rio de Janeiro to say to the Brazilian Gov- 
ernment, that the Fiedler claim appears to be one well 
founded under the law of nations, and that it might perhaps 
be better for Brazil not to provoke the discussion and criti- 
cisms which are almost certain to follow the introduction of 
the case into the Congress of the United States, she might 
possibly come forward meanwhile and do justice in the mat- 
ter, and thereby help to avoid and prevent everything so 
unseemly as bickering and wrangling in public assemblies. 
Earnestly, ardently . do I hope for the result thus supposed 
possible. I have the honor to be. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 445 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

Hotel de la America del Sur, 
Santiago, Chili, January 19, 1878. 
Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir : One or two more words at least do I desire to say, 
in the form of addenda, to the communication which I 
had the honor to address to you from Buenos Ayres, in the 
Argentine Republic, on the i8th ultimo, in relation to the 
claim of Ernest Fiedler, of New York, against the Govern- 
ment of Brazil. All the more am I surprised that Brazil has 
latterly, as formerly, treated the claimant and his attorney so 
unfairly in this matter, because, after more than eleven years 
of silent and special consideration, I have myself almost 
matured in mind an exceedingly important enterprise in her 
behalf, which I feel soberly confident will some day be worth 
to her, in spite of her present unworthiness, millions upon 
millions of dollars ; an enterprise, indeed, which was incep- 
tive with me long, anterior to the time when I first heard of 
the name of Fiedler. 

Reasonably proud of being the originator of this grand 
enterprise, and disposed, through mere enthusiasm and good 
will, to show Brazil that I was not one of the more ordinary 
sort of claimants, who have something to ask, but nothing 
to give, I proposed to present to her, without money and 
without price, on the simple condition of the immediate 
payment of the Fiedler claim, (which law and justice re- 
quire her to pay anyhow,) a full written explanation of the 
scheme ; only stipulating that, for its own sake, she should 
make no rumor nor publication of its nature until such time 
as I myself should be ready for general and pubHc action in 
regard to it. 

Not only, however, has Brazil manifested no desire what- 
ever to do justice to my client, but she has meanwhile dis- 



446 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

played an amazing amount of indifference toward my price- 
less project, which, as I calmly and conscientiously believe, is 
of incalculable importance to her future welfare. Singular as 
the circuaistance may appear, and strange as may eventu- 
ally be the turn or sequel in the affairs of a far-off nation, 
this unparalleled enterprise is yet of a kind that will proba- 
bly not f.iil of fair appreciation before a Committee of en- 
lightened American statesmen; and when I go (if I must 
go,) to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affliirs at Wash- 
ington, with my Fiedler claim against Brazil, I shall also 
take with me, and collaterally lay before that able and dis- 
tinguished Committee, a full explanation of the feasible and 
invaluable project here alluded to ; so that they may, if they 
will honor me with their attention for an hour or so, become 
possessed of ample data for judging impartially of Brazil's 
ideas of justice toward citizens of the United States on the 
■one hand, and of her capacity for wisdom affecting herself 
on the. other. For any loss of respect, or other disadvan- 
tage, which, in this connection, Brazil may possibly suffer 
from an unbiased exposition of certain of her real and lead- 
ing characteristics of- demerit, no one but herself will be to 
blame. 

In friendly conversation with Baron Cabo de Frio, one of 
Brazil's active and prominent statesmen, on this subject, he 
ventured the remark, in extenuation of his Government's 
inaction and apparent unconcern in the premises, that 
there was " no form nor precedent," for the guidance of 
the Empire in any case of this kind ! It would seem, there- 
fore, that certain established " forms " and " precedents," 
however antiquated and clumsy, are necessary conditions, 
conditions precedent, to the improvement of Empires. 
Though, so far as I am aware, none of the great discoveries, 
or helpful inventions, or wonderful works of utility, which 
have most largely advanced the interests of mankind, have 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



44; 



'■ever yei been made by simple adherence to the common 
and ordinary proceedings of primitive and plodding pec 
pie. 

If, in the course of the further unfolding and advancemen 
of this enterprise, facts should be brought to light which will 
prove more conclusively than ever before, the existence of a 
greater oneness and nearness and sympathy and practicability 
between Republics and their citizens, than has ever been found 
existing between Empires and their subjects, and if, more- 
over, it shall be made to appear that the true principles of 
republican government, when wisely aad justly adminis- 
tered, are always and everywhere more pliable and favorable 
to the conditions of general development and progress, and 
to the realization of all new and worthy thoughts and pur- 
poses, — in that case even Brazil herself, measurably disen- 
thralled and enlightened, and relieved from the dull routine 
and deadweight of monarchical preconceptions and practices, 
may erelong, it is hoped, also become a participant in the 
material enrichments and other great gains which such 
superior political knowledge will impart. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect. 
Your obedient servant. 

H. R. HELPER. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARY SEWARD TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, March 8, 1878. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 19th of January last, from San- 
tiago, Chili, has been received and placed on file. 
I am sir, your obedient servant, 

F. W. SEWARD. 



448 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, April 13, 1878. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir: Your letter from Buenos Ayres, on the 18th of 
December last, relative to the Fiedler claim, so-called, upon 
Brazil, has been received. In reply I have to inform you 
that another instruction upon the subject has been addressed 
to Mr. Hilliard, the Minister of the United States at Rio 
de Janeiro. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 



MR. HELPER TO MINISTER HILLIARD. 

New York, November 15, 1878. 
Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, 

United States Mi?iister to Brazil. 

Sir : Since I last had the honor of hearing from you by 
letter, ill-health and other detrimental conditions have pre- 
vented me from paying prompt attention to my correspond- 
ence. Now, however, thanks to Heaven, I am rapidly con- 
valescing, and am again ready for business. The inclosed 
printed pamphlet, on the subject of myColton claim against 
the Governments of both Bolivia and Peru, will explain to 
you (if you will honor me by perusing it,) many of the 
reasons of my comparatively long silence in regard to my 
Fiedler claim against the Government of Brazil. 

Among many papers awaiting me on my return from the 
West Coast of South America, I found one, in the form of a 
letter, from the Hon. W^illiam M. Evarts, Secretary of State; 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 449 

of which letter, under date of the 13th of last April, the fol- 
lowing transcript is a full and correct copy. * * * What 
I wish to know now, honorable sir, is whether the new in- 
struction from Secretary Evarts, of which he makes mention 
in the foregoing letter, has yet produced, or is likely soon to 
produce, the desired effect on the Brazilian Government. 
Pray inform me at your earliest convenience ; for if Brazil 
still maintains her attitude of indifference on the one hand, 
and of opposition on the other, to my client's just demands, 
the duty will erelong devolve on me of openly and strenu- 
ously seeking redress through the Congress of the United 
States. I feel confident that it will be best for Brazil not to 
provoke a fight on this question; but if fight I must, figlit I 
will; and, being forced to it, I shall fight hard and persist- 
ently, and will never desist, while living, until the wrong of 
which I here complain shall have been righted. 

I have the honor to be, very truly, your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

New York, November 27, 1878". 
Hon. William M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Washingtofi. 
Sir: Among much correspondence which had accumu- 
lated here for me, during my recent protracted sojourn in 
South America, I found myself honored, immediately after 
m.y return, with a letter from yourself, under date of April 
13, 1878, wherein you kindly impart to me the following infor- 
mation: * * * Desiring to know what effect, if any, 
the new instruction mentioned above may have produced on 
the Brazilian Government, I beg leave to request of you the 
favor of sending to me, if you can do so compatibly with the 

28 



450 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

rules of your Department, a copy of Minister Hilliard's reply 
to yo-:r own dispatch. What I am particularly anxious 
to ascertain in this connection, is whether or not Bra- 
zil now manifests any disposition to act honorably and equit- 
ably toward my client, Mrs. Fiedler, whose just claim, of 
nearly eleven years' standing, against the Government of 
that country, still remains unsettled. It would be very grat- 
ifving to me to hear that the matter is in such shape, — if, in 
reality, it is in such shape, — as not to need or require any 
reference or appeal to the Congress of the United States. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARY SEWARD TO MR. 
HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 2, 1878. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., New York. 

Sir: Your letter of the 27th instant, relative to the Fied- 
ler claim, so-called, on Brazil, has been received. In reply 
I have to state that Mr. Hilliard, the Minister of the United 
States at Rio de Janeiro, duly acknowledged the receipt of 
the new instruction upon the subject, which this Department 
in its letter to you, of the 13th of April last, said would be 
addressed to him. The subsequent dispatches received 
from him, however, do not appear to refer to the matter. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

F. W. SEWARD. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 45 I 

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER HILLIARD. 

New York, December 4, 1878. 
Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, 

United States Minister to Brazil. 
Dear Sir : The two inclosed copies of letters, one from 
me to the Department of State at Washington, on the sub- 
ject of the Fiedler claim against Brazil, and the other from 
the said Department of State in reply to me on the same 
subject, are each self-explanatory; and I respectfully re- 
quest that you will be so kind as to favor me with the asked- 
for and desired information. Can it be possible that the 
Government of the real Empire of Brazil is no better than 
the Government of the so-called Republic of Bolivia ? and will 
it eventually be necessary for me to pursue against the for- 
mer the same severe course, in the Congress of the United 
States, which I was so repeatedly and profoundly provoked 
to pursue against the latter? 

Yours, most respectfully and truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MR. PERSUHN. 

St. Louis, Mo., March 4, 1879. 
Charles P Persuhn, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir : On Saturday last I received from one of my 
friends at Rio de Janeiro, a letter, and also a marked copy 
of the Jornal do Conimercio, of that city, under date of the 
28th of January, of the present year, informing me of still 
another adverse decision by His Majesty Dom Pedro Se- 
gundo's Imperial Ministry, in the matter of the very just and 
very perspicuous claim of Mrs. Helen M. Fiedler, of New 



452 



THE FIEDLER CLAIM 



York, against the Government of Brazil. From near the 
top of the second column of the second page of the semi- 
official newspaper mentioned above, I have clipped the par- 
ticular item marked for my consideration ; aud this item I 
herewith inclose to you, requesting that, after exhibiting it ta 
Mrs. Fiedler and her children, you will be kind enough to 
return it to me, or hold it subject to my order. The follow- 
ing is a free and fair translation into English of this new 
piece of Portuguese-American perverseness : 
"Claim Rejected." 
" On the 2ist instant the Minister of Agriculture answered 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in regard to the claim of the 
heirs of Ernest Fiedler, a citizen of the United States of 
America, for charter-service, not performed, of the steamship 
Circassian. The Minister of Agriculture sustains the de- 
clarations accompanying the advices of the 19th of Decem- 
ber, 1874, and the i6th of January, 1875, by which that 
claim was then disallowed ; not passing unobserved the sig- 
nificant circumstance that the parties interested remained 
in absolute silence for three years after the last answer of 
the Imperial Government, which would seem to give evi- 
dence on their own part of their conviction of the ultimate 
failure of success in further prosecuting this claim." 

The untruthfulness and the cool effrontery and injustice 
of this special Report from the Brazilian Ministry, — in crafty 
keeping with their equally fallacious Report of the 26th of 
November, 1873, — are exceedingly barefaced and pro- 
voking ; but I do not now, nor can I ever, accept, as a 
finality, their disingenuous action against my wronged and 
widowed client. Please assure Mrs. Fiedler that I shall con- 
tinue to press the Brazihan Government for. the recognition 
of her obvious rights and interests in this affair, and that so 
soon as official notification of this last Imperial and insolent 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



453 



verdict against her shall have come into my hands, I shall, 
in her behalf, institute proceedings on an entirely new and 
less deferential basis. 

Yours, very truly, 

H^ R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO MR. JORDAN. 

St. Louis, Mo., March 4, 1879. 
Edward Jordan, Esq., New York. 

Dear Sir: The unwelcome news which you will read in 
the following copy of a letter which I have just addressed to 
Mr. Persuhn, in New York, containing a translation of the 
:substance of another unfavorable and unjust judgment re- 
cently pronounced at Rio de Janeiro, in the case of our cli- 
ent, Mrs. Fiedler, will again rightly arouse your contempt 
and indignation against the odious obliquity of Imperial 
Brazil. But the end is not yet. We must wait and work, 
and never allow ourselves to become weary in well-doing. 

Yours truly, 

H. R. HELPER. 



MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

St. Louis, Mo, April 23, 1879. 
Hon. William M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Washington. 
Sir: On the 27th of November last, while in the city of 
New York, I had the honor to request you to inform me 
what action, if any, the Brazihan authorities at Rio de Ja- 
nerio had taken upon any issue or sequence of the new in- 



454 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

struction which you informed me, in your letter of the I3tb 
of April, 1878, had been given to Minister Hilliard on the 
subject of the Fiedler claim against the Government of Bra- 
zil; and on the 2d of December following, you replied, in 
substance, that, upon that particular subject, nothing had 
been heard from Minister Hilliard beyond the mere acknowl- 
edgment of his acceptance of the new instruction. Nearly 
five months having elapsed since the date of my last inquiry 
in regard to the condition of this claim at the capital of the 
Emperor Dom Pedro II, I would now thank you for informa- 
tion of any further proceedings which, meanwhile, may 
have been had there, in the case, and of which you yourself, 
as Secretary of State, may have been advised. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



ASSISTANT SECRETARY HUNTER TO MR. HELPER 

Department of State, 
Washington, April 30, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., St. Louis, Missouri. 

Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
the 23d instant, and to say in reply, that a dispatch has just 
been received from the Charge d' Affaires ad interim, oi the 
United States in Brazil, announcing the rejection of the 
*' Fiedler claim," on the presentation made thereof by Mr. 
Hilliard. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. HUNTER. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 455 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

St Louis, Missouri, May 22, 1879. 
Hon. William M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir : Acknowledging with sincere thankfulness the full 
and prompt services which you have always rendered on 
request, in the matter of the Fiedler claim against Brazil, — 
a claim which Second Assistant Secretary Hunter, in a letter 
under date of the 30th ultimo, informs me the Government 
of that Empire has again rejected, — I have now the honor 
to suggest that there remains, as it seems to me, just one 
other little favor which you may, if you will, do me in this 
affair ; and that is to send me a copy of the dispatch Mr. 
Partridge, the Minister of the United States at Rio de 
Janeiro, addressed to the Department over which you now 
preside, at the time he transmitted the elaborately and art- 
fully adverse Report made to the Emperor Dom Pedro II, 
under date of November 26, 1873, by a committee of Bra- 
zilian notabilities, namely, the Marquis de Sapucahy, the 
Viscount de Souza Franco, the Viscount de Bom Retiro, 
and the Baron Cabo de Frio; who were, it seems, by 
direction of their sovereign, constituted into an Imperial 
Council of State for the express purpose of considering the 
circumstances and validity of this reclamation. 

I do not know the date of Minister Partridge's dispatch, 
a copy of which is now desired, but suppose it was written 
in the month of December, 1873, or in January, February, 
or March, 1874. Just now I am busily occupied in making 
up the case, in regular order, for an appeal in the claimant's 
behalf to the Congress of the United States ; and am of 
the opinion that a copy of the dispatch thus requested, if 
incorporated as a part of my memorial ; would probably 
contribute, in some degree, to the ends of justice in this case. 
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



456 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY EVARTS. 

St. Louis, Mo., June 10, 1879. 
Hon. William M. Ynkwy?,, Secretary of State, Washington. 

Sir: On the 2 2d ultimo I had the honor to write you a 
communication, requesting a copy of a dispatch which Min- 
ister Partridge,. at Rio de Janeiro, addressed to the State 
Department, at Washington, late in 1873, o^ ^^^^Y i^ 1^74' 
when he transmitted an elaborately adverse decision of the 
Brazilian Government against the Fiedler claim. Not hav- 
ing heard from you in reply, I fear my letter may not have 
reached you ; or, possibly, you may not have deemed it per- 
fectly proper to furnish me a copy of the desired dispatch. 
Be this as it may, I inclose herewith a transcript of my com- 
munication of the 22d ultimo ;.and trust that I may yet re- 
ceive from you a copy of Mr, Partridge's dispatch, unless 
there be a good reason (to me unknown,) for withholding it. 

I myself have never seen Mr. Partridge, nor have I ever 
had any correspondence with him on this particular subject; 
but when I was at Rio de Janeiro, on this business, in 1877, 
at a time when, to our national discredit, and to the disad- 
vantage of individuals, we had, during a period of many 
months, no Minister nor open Legation there, I learned in- 
cidentally, but certainly, that Mr. Partridge, by whom, as 
Minister, all the facts of the claim had been well considered, 
had written a dispatch to Secretary Fish, transmitting Bra- 
zil's denial of justice in the case, but himself fully and strongly 
sustaining the rightfulness of the claimant's demand. As 
a matter of course, I, as the claimant's attorney, now 
busy in making up the case for the consideration and action 
of our Congress at Washington, should be very glad to ob- 
tain a copy of that dispatch ; but, in the end, it may perhaps 
be as well for Mrs. Fiedler and myself to request a Commit- 
tee of Congress to call for the document. What Minister 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 457 

Partridge said on this subject, — he, by virtue of his famil- 
iarity with all the facts, having been well qualified to express 
an opinion as to both the law and the equity of the case, — 
was substantially what any other clear-headed and right- 
minded man would have said under the same or similar cir- 
cumstances ; and I had supposed it not improbable that his 
views, so formed and formulated, might facilitate other hon- 
est men herein and hereafter in arriving at corresponding 
conclusions of justice. 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully. 
Your obedient servant, 

H. R. HELPER. 



SECRETARY EVARTS TO MR. HELPER. 

Department of State, 
Washington, June i8, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq., St. Louis j Missouri. 

Sir: Your letter of the 2 2d ultimo was duly received. 
I have caused an examination to be made of the records in 
the Fiedler claim against Brazil, with a view to ascertaining 
whether it would be practicable to depart from the long- 
established rule of the Department, which requires that 
copies of the diplomatic notes on file should not be com- 
municated to private parties, except under special circum- 
stances ; but I do not perceive any sufficient reason to 
depart therefrom in your case to the extent of furnishing 
you with a copy of Mr. Partridge's dispatch communicating 
to the Depaitment the Report of the BraziHan Council of 
State, made under date of November 26, 1873. 
Regretting my inability to favor you in this matter, 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

WnXL\M M. EVARTS. 



45^ THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO CHANCELLOR ELIOT. 

St. Louis, July ii, 1879.. 
Dr. William G. Eliot, 

CJiancelhr of Washington University, 

St. Louis, Missouri. 

Dear Sir : Whilst you and your able corps of coadjutors 
of Washington University and its associate institutions of 
learning are accomplishing so much in the development of 
the intellectual, ethic and artistic interests of this broad, 
blooming, busy, bright, and beautiful city, I, working in a 
less elevated sphere, have projected an enterprise which 
looks confidently to the unparalleled growth and grandeur 
of its material greatness. For the further nurturing and final 
consummation of this enterprise, however, the early and 
earnest cooperation with me of three gentlemen, who are 
more or less familiar with the best methods of constructing 
and managing railroads, is now desirable. 

An almost total stranger in St. Louis, and having come 
here especially for the purpose of promoting and carrying 
out, so far as it may be possible for me to do so, the impor- 
tant scheme alluded to above, I take the hberty to request 
of you the names of three gentlemen, such as I have thus 
indicated the wish to meet ; gentlemen only of integrity, 
foresight and energy, whose largeness of mind and liberality 
of views will enable them to judge fairly and act wisely in 
regard to a project of uncommon magnitude, which involves 
very strong probabilities of both private gain and public ad- 
vantage ; a project in the inception and furtherance of 
which I have already, as an individual, spent much time 
and labor and money, and am willing and prepared to spend 
more. 

It is only the names, as requested, and not a letter of in- 
troduction, that I seek by this note ; for I am quite disposed 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 45^ 

to rely exclusively on my business itself, when explained, to 
introduce me fitly to the three gentlemen with whose ad- 
dress you may be pleased to favor me, and whose character 
and qualifications will, I trust, prove worthy of your best 
thoughts and designation in this connection. 

One who, like yourself, as a constant friend and assistant, 
has stood steadily and manfully by St. Louis during a period 
of forty-five years, seeing her, in the youth and flush and- 
pride and pomp of her prospective aggrandizement, gradu- 
ally yet rapidly increase, from a town of only five thousand 
inhabitants, to a metropolis with a population of more than 
half a million, and who is well acquainted with a large num- 
ber of her estimable citizens in every honorable vocation, 
can, I dare say, easily give me the names of just three supe- 
rior local railroad men ; and by doing me personally the little 
service thus solicited, you will also, it is hoped and beHeved, 
be doing an additional service to the Empire City of the 
Mississippi Valley. 

Yours, most respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



CHANCELLOR ELIOT TO MR. HELPER. 

Washington University, St. Louis, July 12, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In compliance with your request I give, in 
the inclosed list, the names of several gentlemen, who are, 
in every respect, well qualified to aid you in any enterprise 
undertaken for the public good. If needful, many others 
can be found; but I confidently hope that those now named 
will cheerfully consent to cooperate with you in your great 
work, and am sure that no better selection could possibly be 



460 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

made. Wishing to you and them all manner of success, and 
thanking you for the opportunity of rendering this service, 
I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, yours, 

W. G. ELIOT. 



MR. HELPER TO BANK PRESIDENT BURNHAM. 

St. Louis, July t8, 1879. 
Cyrus B. Burnham, Esq., 

President of the Ba7ik of CojHinerce, St. Louis, Mo. 

Dear Sir : Of the money which you now hold in deposit 
to my 'credit, I desire to place in the hands of a local com- 
mittee of three gentlemen of sterling integrity and clear- 
headedness, an obligation for the sum of five thousand dol- 
lars, payable to their joint order, or to the order of their 
chairman, on the first day of December of next year, 1880, 
to be then expended by them in obtaining;;, severally, five of 
the best attainable essays in English, tlnco in prose and two 
in poetry, in advocacy of the early construction of a longitu- 
dinal midland double-track steel railway through North and 
Central and South America, from a point on or near the west- 
ern shore of Hudson Bay to such part of the northern bank 
of the Strait of Magellan, as may be measurably equidistant 
between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. 

To this end, — and I trust that the object is one which 
you and all eminently worthy and progressive Americans 
may be pleased to approve and promote, — I have to request 
that you will, to-day or to-morrow, issue to my order, paya- 
ble, as already mentioned, on the first day of December of 
next year, 1880, a certificate of deposit, a note, or such 
other form of indebtedness binding on your admirably and 
'excellently managed bank as you yourself may deem most 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 46 I 

convenient and proper, and which it is my purpose to use only 
in the manner indicated above, as will soon be more min- 
utely and elaborately explained in a printed volume, the 
manuscript of which will be ready for publication a few 
weeks hence. Yet, until the time of the actual forthcom- 
ing of the book from the prers, I indulge the hope that 
you will so far befriend both the enterprise and its projector 
as to say nothing w^hatever on the subject, to any person 
whomsoever, excepting only, at your own option, to your 
discreet and estimable Cashier, Mr. Van Blarcom. 
Yours, most respectfully, 

H. R. HELPER. 



BANK PRESIDENT BURNHAM TO MR. HELPER. 

Bank of Commerce, St. Louis, July 19, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : As requested in your letter of yesterday, I 
herewith inclose to your order a certificate of deposit in this 
bank for five thousand dollars, payable on the first day of 
December, 1880 ; which certificate can be used for the pur- 
pose and in the manner designed by you. The enterprise 
outlined in your letter is of such magnificent conception, 
and also of such grand proportions, that it cannot, when 
once your plans shall be made public, fail to attract the 
attention and critical examination of all thoughtful and 
practical Americans ; and I trust that the feasibility of 
your projected improvements may be demonstrated by ' 
substantial completion within a reasonable period of time. 
I am, very respectfully, yours, 

C. B. BURNHAM. 



462 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

MR. HELPER TO THREE ST. LOUISANS. 

St. Louis, Missouri, July 25, 1879. 
Hon. Thomas Allen, 
Carlos S. Greeley, Esq., and 
Dr. William T. Harris. 

Gentlemen : The occasion of my presuming to address 
to you this communication is what I have myself long re- 
garded as a perfectly practicable enterprise, of unequalled 
magnitude and transcendent importance, to which, through 
your own able and honorable selves, as a committee o 
three men, I now desire to enlist at once the attention and 
active! cooperation of the multitudinous peoples of three 
Americas. The object thus aimed at is nothing less than 
the earliest possible construction of a longitudinal midland 
double-track steel railway, from a point high north in North 
America, running more or less southwardly through Mexico 
and Central America, to a point far south in South America ; 
looking ultimately to such necessary and gradual extensions 
at eitlicr end from time to time, as will eventually place Beh- 
ring Strait and Cape Horn, and all the intermediate localities^ 
in uninterrupted and continuous overland communication by 
steam and by telegraph. 

My views on this subject will appear somewhat elaborately 
in a book, not wholly devoted to this scheme, however, 
which I intend to publish in the course of the next two or 
three months; and in order to prove conclusively my own 
earnestness and confidence in the matter, I herewith inclose 
a certificate of deposit for five thousand dollars in the Bank 
of Commerce of St. Louis, payable to your joint order, or 
to the order of any two of you, on the first day of Decem- 
ber of next year, 1880; the said money to be then expend- 
ed by you in obtaining five of the most convincing and meri- 
torious essays wdiich may be offered meanwhile, three in 
prose and two in poetry, in truthful and vigorous and effec- 
tive advocacy of the undertaking. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



463 



Your particular names have been cordially and emphati- 
•cally recommended as representing three gentlemen whose 
unquestioned probity, public spirit, mental capacity, and 
financial responsibility, are all that could be reasonably 
wished or expected in such a council of safety and critical 
judgment and award as I am now seeking , and I am there- 
fore emboldened to express the sincere hope and request, 
that you may all be pleased to give your consent to act to- 
gether as a potent and permanent committee in this connec- 
tion. Should you all consent accordingly, please consider 
yourselves as at once constituted into such a committee, for 
the purpose specifically mentioned above, and retaining to 
yourselves the certificate of deposit, already indorsed to your 
order, advise me of your acceptance of the trust, and also 
of your readiness to receive and adjudge whatever manu- 
scripts may be submitted for your perusal and approbation. 
Also be kind enough to designate immediately one of your- 
selves as the chairman of your committee, giving his exact 
postal address, and stating that all essays and communica- 
tions bearing upon this project, and being prepaid, should 
be sent to him by express or by mail, wholly at the expense 
and risk of the sender. 

For the proper information and guidance of all con- 
cerned, I propose to publish, as an essential part of my book 
itself, so far as it treats of The Three Americas Interconti- 
nental Railway, both this communication and your reply, in 
orderly juxtaposition. In making the certificate of deposit 
payable to your joint order, or to the order of any two of 
you, I have very plainly indicated my wish that, in the ab- 
sence, at any time, from whatever cause, of any one of you, 
the other two shall constitute a competent and legal quorum 
whose proceedings shall be as absolutely vaUd and final as if 
.all three of you had acted in concert; and whether any one 
of your committee shall ever be absent or not, when the 



464 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Other two shall meet, it is my sense of right and propriety 
that the expressed opinions and predilections of the majority 
of two out of three shall always be recognized as the govern- 
ing voice, and govern accordingly. I trust, however, that 
the peerless enterprise itself may never suffer for the lack 
of the triple wisdom and power which all three of you, acting 
harmoniously together, will be able to bring to it in any par- 
ticular situation or contingency. 

It is my desire, and I make it a condition accordingly, 
that all the writings, of whatever nature, without a single ex- 
ception, which may be offered for prizes in this literary and 
patriotic contest, sliall be conveyed into your hands not later 
than the first day of October of next year, 1880; and you 
may now, if you like, completely release yourselves in ad- 
vance from the labor of examining any composition, under 
any circumstances, which may reach you after that date. 
Two months subsequently, that is to say, on the first day of 
December following, you will please make publication of the 
names of the successful competitors, and on that very same 
day, or just as soon thereafter as you may find it convenient 
to do so, you will please pay them, by means of certified 
checks on the Bank of Commerce of this city, in sums re- 
spectively, without interest, as follows : 

For the first best treatise in prose, - - - $1,300 
'.' second """--- -_ 1,200 
" third """---- 1,000 
" first best efi"ort in poetry, . - - 1,000 

" next " ".---- 500 



Total, - - - - - - $5,000 

Other conditions which I make absolutely, and to which I 
would here respectfully and especially invite the attention 
of all the competitors for any one of the proffered prizes, 
are these : No essay in prose must contain more than one 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 465 

hundred pages of closely-written cap-paper, nor less than 
sixty-six ; and neither of the two poems provided for must 
contain m'ore than five hundred lines, nor less than three 
hundred and thirty-three. All the writings in the hands of 
your committee, to whose authors prizes shall be awarded, 
are at once to become the so'.e and exclusive property of 
myself individually, and will be immediately published alto- 
gether in one volume, with any such additions, abridgments, 
or emendations, as I myself may deem it prudent to make. 
All essays which fail to receive prizes may be reclaimed by 
their respective authors on transmitting to the chairman of 
your committee the small amount of money that will defray 
the usual expenses of expressage or postage. It might be 
best for the various competitors respectively, to do this at 
the very time of submitting their writings for the examina- 
tion and adjudgment of your committee. This is a point 
which they themselves will settle, each for himself, at his 
own option. Every author should keep a press copy, or 
other copy, of his composition ; and such extra copy may,, 
at any time, be demanded by your committee. 

The several prizes thus offered, may be striven for and 
achieved by emulous citizens anywhere resident within the 
universal Republic of Letters, which, like one of the grand- 
•est and most precious parts that compose it, the Republic 
of the United States of America, is, in all fhings, character- 
ized by fairness and justice and liberahty. It is only 
required that all the papers which may be submitted for 
examination and award, shall be so written or translated as 
to appear legibly in the EngUsh language. 

Doubting not that your committee will be honored with 
many very interesting and valuable contributions in compe- 
tition, neither do I permit myself to doubt in the least that 
you will constantly exercise such diligence and discretion as 
Avill result in the strictest and fullest justice, ahke to the 

29 



466 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Special object in view, and to the various contestants for 
prizes. It may be well supposed that the writers who will 
■succeed in winning both reputation and remuneration in 
this respect, are probably those who will detach themselves 
most completely from every species of flippancy and frivol- 
ity, from everything like superficiality and insincerity, and 
•dive down deep into irrefragable and imperishable facts 
and arguments, and who will then, on the one hand at least, 
on the side of poesy, elevate themselves to the loftiest 
heights of sublime ideas and ennobling sentiments and 
expressions, whereby they may rightfully and triumphantly 
captivate the head, fascinate the heart, and enrapture 
the soul. 

It is hoped that such an intense earnestness and enthusi- 
asm may be awakened throughout all the countries from 
Alaska to Patagonia, inclusive, as will lead to the granting 
of all the requisite governmental guarantees and privileges 
and charters, by or before the 14th of October, 1882 ; so 
that the vast enterprise may be actually begun not later than 
that day ; and that at least one hundred and fifty thousand 
strong-armed and cheerful-hearted laborers may soon after- 
ward be given work on the various sections of the Hne, and, 
^ by fair wages and just treatment, induced to continue their 
wealth-creating and civilizing exertions, without any unusual 
interruption, until the whole undertaking, in its longest and 
broadest and best conceptions, shall be substantially and 
gloriously finished for all future ages. Seven years at most 
ought to suffice for the completion of this grandest and best 
of all the grand and good highways of the New World. 
The lapse of that period will find us facing the 14th of Oc- 
tober, 1889. Three years later will take us to the four hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America. Let us be 
prepared to mark and honor that anniversary, — a veritable 
index to one of the most conspicuous and momentous epochs 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 467 

in human affairs, — let us welcome and signalize that super- 
lative anniversary in St. Louis, by holding here, at that time, 
the largest; and most splendid and imposing World's Fair 
that has ever been held on the earth ; an exhibition at which 
shall be especially and fully represented the people, the pro- 
ducts, the fauna, the flora, and the minerals, of every Amer- 
ican nation between the Arctic and Antarctic seas and the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

That St. Louis, already the largest and most prosperous 
and progressive city in the great Valley of the Mississipp:, 
the very heart and center of the continent of North America, 
for railroading and steamboating, and for travel and trade 
and manufactures and business of almost every kind, aid 
probably destined, within the next hundred years, to out- 
number in inhabitants the combined populations of New 
York and Philadelphia, — that this wonderfully thrifty and 
expanding metropolis, so unmistakably betokening for itself 
a surpassing and transcendent future, is now, and will con- 
tinue to be, the fittest possible p'lace for such a matchlessly 
magnificent exhibition as I have here suggested, ma/ be 
further and more fully inferred from the following pointed 
opinions expressed, on different occasions, by half a dozen 
uncommonly foreseeing and discerning men of great nation- 
al renown. Nor, in the light of the astonishing acquisitions 
and tendencies of to-day, is it at all unreasonable to believe 
that the year 1979, will find St. Louis a far more numerously 
inhabited city than either London or Paris, if, indeed, it shall 
not then, or soon afterward, be even more populous and thriftv 
and progressive than both of those leading European capitals 
considered as one. 

On the 4th of February, 1870, my old friend Horace 
Greeley, one of the ablest and truest and best men I have 
ever known, writing from the ofiice of his Tribune, in New 
York, to L. U. Reavis, Esq., at St. Louis, said: — "I have 



468 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

twice seen St. Louis in the middle of winter. Nature made 
her the focus of a vast region, embodying a vast area of the 
most fertile soil on the globe. Man will soon accomplish her 
destiny by rendering her the seat of an immense industry, 
the home of a far-reaching, ever-expanding commerce. Her 
gait is not so rapid as that of some of her Western sisters ; 
but she advances steadily and surely to her predestined sta- 
tion of first inland city on the globe." 

In the course of a letter written at Boston, under date of 
July 24,1863, and addressed to Dr. William G. Eliot, Chan- 
cellor of Washington University in St. Louis, EJAMrd Ever- 
ett, whose name is eminently worthy to be held in love and 
veneration by every American citizen, said: — "The future 
is, of course, veiled in darkness ; but when I consider your 
central position and your means of communication in every 
direction, nothing seems to me niore probable than that, by 
the end of this century, St. Louis will be the metropolis of 
the Union." 

Replying, under date of July 16, 1875, to a letter from 
L. U. Reavis, Esq., — himself an indefatigable and excellent 
worker in the interest of a great and growing city, a gende- 
man with whom I regret that I have not yet had an oppor- 
tunity to become acquainted, — Gen. W^illiam T. Sherman 
said: "I have every faith in the future of St Louis, and 
have in fact shown my sincerity by making it my home, and 
the future home of my family." 

Charles Sumner, to whom the vigorous and unlimited 
growth of the West was always a matter of wonder and ad- 
miration, wrote as follows: — " St. Louis alone would be an 
all-sufficient theme ; for who can doubt that this prosperous 
metropohs is destined to be one of the mighty centers of our 
mighty RepubHc? " 

In his usual frank and glowing style, James Parton, the 
distinguished author, speaks thus: — "Fair St. Louis, the 



AGAINST liRAZIL. 469 

future Capital of the United States, and of the cIviHzation o<" 
the Western Continent." 

While' delivering a speech in St. Louis, a few years since. 
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler said: * * *< "I also remember 
that I am now in the city of St. Louis, destined erelong to 
be the great city on the continent ; the greatest central point 
between the East and the West, at once destined to be the 
entrepot and depot of all the internal commerce of the 
greatest and most prosperous country the world has ever 
seen. * * * The next quarter of a century shall see 
a larger population west of the Mississippi than the last 
quarter of a century sav/ east of the Mississippi ; and the 
city of St. Louis, from its central location, and through the 
vigor, the energy, the industry and the enterprise of its in- 
habitants, shall become the very first city of the United 
States of America, now and hereafter destined to be the 
great republican nation of the world."* 

Not one of the foregoing opinions, — four of which, sig- 
nificantly enough, are from far-sighted and far-famed New 
Englanders, — had ever come to my knowledge prior to my 
arrival in St. Louis, for the first time, only a few months 
since. My attraction to the city was solely by its geograph- 
ical position. A mere glance at the map was sufficient to 
convince me that it was the most central and convenient 
point in the United States from which I could operate, under 
a combination of really propitious circumstances, in the 

* On the I2th of September, 1879, while briefly sojourning at the 
Planters' House in St. Louis, on his way to Lawrence, Kansas, there 
to deliver an address on the occasion of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary 
of the Old Settlers' Celebration of the Founding of the State, the 
veteran Pennsylvania journalist, John W. Forney, proprietor of the 
Philadelphia Progress, in the course of an interview with a reporter of 
the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, said: "I look with amazement upon 
the growth and prosperity of this immense capital, and am overwhelmed 
by the hospitality of my old friends." 



47 O THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

initiation and furtherance of my gigantic scheme. For a 
very brief period the city of Mexico, as a sort of imperfecdy- 
discerned yet friendly rival to St. Louis, laid passable claims 
to my attention in this regard; but the instability of the 
government of the Mexican Republic, and the comparatively 
inadequate resources, in both men and means, there existing 
for the organization of ample physical and financial forces 
for the prosecution and accomplishment of any great civil 
or secular undertaking, induced me, with scarcely one seri- 
ous thought to the contrary, to give St. Louis the preference. 
Yet, if the unrivalled intercontinental railway here proposed, 
shall be built according to the general plans and specifica- 
tions outlined in my book, it may be conceded as certain 
that the city of Mexico, and the whole Republic of Mexico, as 
also all the chief cities and republics through which the road 
will pass, will, with peace and good government firmly es- 
tablished and maintained among them, soon assume propor- 
tions of population, prosperity and progress hitherto but 
barely contemplated even by their most sanguine supporters. 
Well constructed and wisely managed, and fully protected 
by national and international compacts, from the dangers of 
undue interference by revolutionary factions, this road of 
roads, this great northern and southern backbone, from 
which eastern and western ribs will eventually radiate by 
scores and by hundreds, conveying an exuberance of new^ 
life and energy and hope and blessing to tens of millions of 
happy hmnan beings, ought, in time, to be worth at least three 
thousand millions of dollars to North America, the same 
amount to South America, and fifteen hundred millions, more 
or less, to Mexico and Central America. Of these vast valua- 
tions and earnings, St. Louis and other portions of Missouri 
ought to be the recipients, from first to last, of one hundred 
millions or more ; but these mere pecuniary estimates are 
meditative of only a material part of the advantages which 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



471 



may be fairly expected to flow from the colossal enterprise 
after it sha'.l have been perfected. Every intellectual^ 
moral, social, civil, political and industrial interest of man- 
kind will be advanced ; and, as an inevitable and delightful 
result of the aesthetic culture which will prevail, the most 
simple and unaffected amenities, elegancies, refinements and 
purities of life will everywhere increase and abound. 

Such, gendemen, are some of the herculean, yet whole- 
some and pleasurable, tasks to the completion of which 
your valuable services are now craved and solicited. 
Whether, by the methods here mentioned, it is in your power 
to contribute in any degree to the general well-being of St. 
Louis, of Missouri, of the United States, and of the three 
Americas at large, I must now leave entirely to your own judg- 
ment and decision ; only yet stopping long enough to repeat 
once more my respectful request, that you, all three of you, 
will kindly consent to use and expend the five thousand 
dollars herewith inclosed, in the manner explained above. 
Though you and I may plant and sow, and others, reaping, 
the harvests with gladness and hilarity, may enjoy the fruits 
of our labors, yet who knows but that, in this very way, 
certain of our special duties may be best performed ? Next 
will come an opportunity for the beneficiaries themselves, or 
for one or more of them, if so disposed, to do something of 
the kind, something of far greater importance, perhaps ; 
and by constant and judicious action upon the principle 
thus recognized, our world, in the very nature of things, — a 
world in itself not half so bad as many pessimists proclaim 
it, — can never cease to grow brighter and better and more 
fehcitously inhabitable for all diligent and right-doing people. 
I am, gentlemen, wqth sincere regard. 
Yours, very truly, 

H. R. HELPER, 



472 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

Before bringing this volume to a final termination, I can- 
not refrain from expressing my perfect satisfaction at finding 
myself the subject of such unbounded respect and confi- 
dence on the part of the three able and distinguished gen- 
tlemen who have so fully and frankly consented to act as a 
Committee to further the foregoing plan for constructing, 
within the next ten years, a vast New World Longitudinal 
Railway. Already the question is beginning to present itself 
to me, whether the enterprise may not soon come to be 
much more indebted to its Committee, than to its projec- 
tor, for its successful commencement and consummation. 
Yet this particularly pleasing impression is only coincident 
and concordant with the remembrance of the fact that the 
Chairman of the Committee is very generally and justly re- 
cognized as the father of the railroad system of Missouri, 
and the foremost railway monitor of the Mississippi valley. 

Nor is it alone in their confiding and unconditional accept- 
ance of the proffered commission, that these eminently com- 
petent and estimable gentlemen have so highly honored me. 
Although they were plainly informed, nearly three months 
ago, that my publication, the work in hand, would not oc- 
cupy itself exclusively with an elucidation of the stupendous 
international and intercontinental highway here proposed, 
yet not one of them has ever been so presuming or inquisi- 
tive as to ask me the nature of any of the collateral con- 
tents of the book. This evidence of their absolute freedom 
from the spirit of intolerance, shows very clearly their deli- 
cate and refined sense of the sacredness of individual 
rights and private judgment, and also their sublime regard 
for the inviolability of liberty in literature. 

Only to the railway scheme itself are they in any manner 
■compromised ; and, as a matter of course, they will always 
be quite as free as any one else to criticise and condemn 
any portion of my book, which may not commend itself 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 



473 



to their approbation. So also with Ex-Secretary Fish and 
Secretary Evarts, Senators Hamlin and Howe, Represen- 
tatives Cox and Myers, Ministers Hilliard and Osborn, and 
many other gentlemen, in office and out of office, whose 
names and communications will be found herein. No one 
of them individually is in the least responsible for anything 
for which he himself does not assume responsibility ; and 
precisely so with the excellent Three Americas Railway 
Committee. Severally and jointly have the members of 
that Committee agreed and promised to promote the enter- 
prise to the extent specifically stated by them in their own 
letter. To nothing else have they agreed ; upon nothing 
else have they been consulted ; and for nothing else herein 
(except by their own pleasure and permission,) are they 
to be held to any account whatever. That they will faith- 
fully and efficiently perform the special labors which they 
have thus politely and patriotically taken upon themselves, 
no one will be justified in entertaining the remotest misgiv- 
ing; they all being fine models, physically, mentally, and 
morally, of that pure type of Anglo-American stock, whose 
keen-visioned optics are gifted with the fortunate faculty of 
always being able to perceive something better in the future 
than anything that ever existed in the past ; and whose rigid 
fidelity to all honorable engagements is to them, as it should 
be to everybody, a religion of the sweetest consolation. 

H. R. H. 
St. Louis, October 14, 1879. 



DR. HARRIS TO MR. HELPER. 

St. Louis, July 28, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 



474 THE FIEDLER CLAIM 

of your communication, under date of the 25th instajit, in> 
which you invite me to serve as one of a committee of three 
appointed to award five Hberal prizes offered by you for a 
corresponding number of the best essays on the subject of 
constructing an International Raihvay connecting North and 
South America, and extending from this country to the 
southern extremity of the continent. 

I take pleasure in accepting the trust off«. • :d me, not, 
however, from any peculiar sense of fitness for the work, 
but because of the fact that I recognize the importance of 
the undertaking, and have full confidence in your ability to 
arouse public attention to the great issue now before the 
people of this RepubHc; namely, to prepare for the great 
wave of migration now gathering strength, which must spread 
out laterally to the North and South, after it has peopled our 
own wilderness to the West. Hitherto we have had suffi- 
cient room for expansion, without approaching the borders- 
of other nations. The special fimction of America, in the 
history of civilization, seems to make it the theatre for the 
recomposition of European society, and the means of safety 
from revolutions occasioned by changes of vocation rendered 
necessary by the constant invention of labor-saving machin- 
ery. Our new territories are therefore a matter of great in- 
terest to the thickly-settled Eastern sections of this country; 
but, at the same time, they are of far more interest to the 
stability and progress of European nations. The periodic 
waves of migration from Europe, will necessarily increase in. 
size. Closer commercial relations not only follow in the 
wake of migration, but must, to some extent, precede it, so 
as to mark out its path and render it possible. In all this, 
the Railroad is the most important instrumentality. It per- 
mits migration to carry with it and preserve the traditions 
of metropohtan or urban life, when out on the frontier, and 
thus prevents too abrupt transitions from the old to the new. 



AGAINST BRAZIL. 475 

I look upon your enterprise as well-timed and of central im- 
portance to society, whether commercially orphilanthropically 
regarded.' 

Yours respectfully, 

WM. T. HARRIS. 



THREE ST. LOUISANS TO MR. HELPER. 

St. Louis, Mo., September 25, 1879. 
H. R. Helper, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Having returned to St. Louis, from our 
respective summer resorts, we have the pleasure to acknowl- 
edge receipt of your communication of the 25th of July, 
inclosing to our joint order, or to the order of any two of 
us, a certificate of deposit for five thousand dollars in the 
Bank of Commerce, of this city, payable on the first day of 
December of next year, and which you request us to expend, 
in a manner minutely explained by you, for the purpose of 
procuring five persuasive and convincing essays in advocacy 
of the early construction of a double-track longitudinal steel 
railway through North and Central and South America. 

You have further paid us the compHment of nominating 
us a Tliree Americas Railway Committee, with full powers, 
to the end proposed, and have requested us to name one of 
ourselves as the Chairman of our Committee, to whom 
all competitive manuscripts may be sent for perusal and 
adjudgment. 

We have maturely considered the substantial and busi- 
ness-like contents and bearing of your communication ; and, 
holding in view the gigantic and important objects sought 
to be accompHshed, we scarcely feel ourselves at liberty to 
refuse to perform the service which you have so politely 



476 THE FIEDLER CLAIM AGAINST BRAZIL. 

requested us to render in this connection ; and we, there- 
fore, in behalf of the grand enterprise itself, unreservedly 
accept the commission which you have given us ; and hop- 
ing thereby to be able to contribute to the general good and 
advancement of our own and the adjoining continent, we 
shall cheerfully and gratuitously perform all the duties, as 
we understand them, which this acceptance implies. All 
writings which may be submitted to us, in .competition for 
prizes, as provided for by you, should be prepaid, by mail, 
or by express, and addressed to our Chairman, as follows : 

HON. THOMAS ALLEN, 

President of the Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, 
No. I North Fifth Street, 
St. Louis, 
Missouri. 

It now only remains for us to give expression to our ar- 
dent hopes, braced by a high degree of confidence, that 
your dearest aims and expectations in this regard may be 
realized, in all their magnitude and grandeur, within the time 
specifically mentioned by you ; namely, the 14th of October, 
1892, which, as you yourself have reminded us, will be the 
four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

WM. T. HARRIS, 
CARLOS S. GREELEY, 
THOMAS ALLEN. 



THE END. 



INDEX TO NAMES AND SUBJECTS. 



Acceptances, the Laws of, 217. 

Account against Bolivia, 212. , 

Acha, Jose Maria de, 37. 

Act of Congress against Bolivia, 154, 160. 

Affidavits of Ellis and Persuhn, 363, 366. 

Africa and the Africans, 291-315, 

Albuquerque, D. V. C. de, 386, 391, 397, 398, 402, 404, 418. 

Albuquerque, H. C. de, 359. 

Allen, Thomas, 462, 476. 

Aranjo, Secretary, 379, 380. 

Barinaga, Manuel Antonio, 250, 256. 

Baron Cabo de Frio, 396, 397, 400. « 

Barros, B. Torreao de, 372. 

Bell, Walton P., 91. 

Benavente, Juan de Cruz, 236. 

Blow, Henry T., 361, 362, 363. 

Blyth, Henry A., 116. 

Bocayuva, Quintino de Souza, 359, 434. 

Bolivia's Indebtedness to Mr. Colton, 21-271. 

Bolivia's Secretary of State, 67, 81, 108. 

Bolivia, Protest against, 204-271. 

Borges, Antonio Pedro de Carvalho, 370, 371. 

Brazil's Delinquencies in the Fiedler Claim, 334-476. 

Brown, J. Douglas, 366. 

Brown, Sevellon A., 160. 

Burnham, Cyrus B., 460, 461. 

Butler, Benjamin F., 469. 

Cadwalader, John L., 167, 173, 176, 185. 

Cahill, John F., 324, 328. 

Caldwell, John W., 84, 92. 

Cameron, Simon, 106, 125, 144, 148, 151, 152, 162. 

Campero, Narciso, 102. 

Canal, Ship, across Central America, 319-333. 

Cartter, David K., 84, 123. 

Certificate of Vice-Consul Cordeiro, 434. 

Charter-Party of the " Circassian," 357. 



478 INDEX TO NAMES AND SUBJECTS. 

Church, George Earl, 165, 166. 

Circassian, the Steamer, 357. 

Clayton, Robert T., 212. 

Colton, Joseph H., 20, 23, 26, 29, 50, 58, 72, 80, 90, ibo, 145, 154, 

160, 168. 180, 182, 201, 202, 264, 266, 267, 271. 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senate, 123, 154. 
Committee, Three Americas Railway, 462, 475, 476. 
Congressional Action in favor of Mr. Colton, 154, 160. 
Conkling, Roscoe, 145, 
Cordeiro, Francis M., 434, 435. 
Corral, Casimiro, 34, 38, 44, 54, 65, 74, 157. 
Cox, Samuel S., 315, 318. 
Croxton, John T., 65, 75, 84, 103, 113. 
Crump, Arthur, 217. 
Curtis, George Ticknor, 129. 
Dakar and Dakar's Negroes; 29 1 -3 1 5. 
Darien, Isthmus of, and other Isthmuses, 319-333. 
Davidson, James Wood, 108. 
Decree of the Bolivian Government, 49, 155. 
Dom Pedro II, Emperor, 375, 413, 419. 
Draft from Bolivia on Peru, 241. 
Eads, James B., 326. 
Eliot, Wm. G., 458, 459. 
Ellis, Thomas S., 363. 
Emperor Dom Pedro II, 375, 413, 419. 
Evarts, William M., 128, 198, 201, 220. 229, 231, 234, 262, 263, 290, 

382, 386, 399, 407, 411, 441, 445, 448, 449, 455, 456, 457. 
Everett, Edward, 468. 
Fiedler, Ernest, against Brazil, 334-476. 
Field, David Dudley, 132. 
Field, Dudley, 117. 
Fish, Hamilton, 34, 76, 95, 97, 99, 102, 104, 105, ill, 125, 149, 162, 

166, 172, 177, 179, 182, 184, 185, 186, 188, 190, 191. 
Fleury, Louis Augustus de Podua, 360. 
Flores, Zoilo, 224, 236. 
Forney, John W., 469. 
Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., 164. 
Frias, Tomas, 73, 79, 80, 168, 171. 
Frio, Baron Cabo de, 396, 397, 400. 
Frisbie, Oscar, 120. 
Gibbs, Richard, 178, 219, 260. 
■Goicouria, Domingo de, 359, 360, 434. 



INDEX TO NAMES AND SUBJECTS. 479 

'Governments, Obligations of, 135-143. 
•Greeley, Carlos S., 462, 476. 
Greeley, Horax:e, 467. 
•Grotius, Hugo, 135. 
Hale, Charles, 94, 96. 
Hall, Allen A., 84, 92. 
Halleck, Henry W., 143. 
Hamlin, Hannibal, 146, 153, 269, 270, 
Harris, William T., 462, 473, 476. 

Hilliard, Henry W., 427, 430, 431, 432, 433, 435, 437, 448, 451. 
Howe, Timothy O., 152, 153. 
Hunter, William, 291, 454. 

Intervention by Congress in Mr. Colton's behalf, 154, 160. 
Izabel, the Princess, 382, 397. 
Jackson, Andrew, 141. 

Jordan, Edward, 342, 343, 374, 381, 389, 411, 453. 
Judges of the Supreme Court of Peru, 232, 235. 
Kent, James, 139. 
Lanfranco, JtDaquin P., 228. 
Lawrence, William Beach, 141. 
Lieber, Francis, 319, 321. 

Markbreit, Leopold, 48, 50, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 61, 64, 84, 1 14. 
Marshall, John, 138, 217, 

Memorials to Congress, 21, 29, 80, 240, 270, 337. 
Merrimon, Augustus S., 147, 150, 291, 292. 
Miscellaneous Oddments, 274-333. 
Morales, Augustin, 50, 386. 
Mujia, Juan Mariano, 39, 40. 
Myers, Leonard, loi. 

Naval Stores and Extravagancies Abroad, 286-290. 
Newcomb, Charles S., 122. 
•Obligations of Governments, 135—143. 
Oblitas, J., 195, 196, 242. 
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 117. 
Ona, Jose Fehx, 40. 
Ondarza, Juan, 40, 44. 
Onderdonk, H. G., 1 18. 
Osborn, Thomas A., 203. 
•Oviedo, Chief- Justice, 235. 
Palacios, Fernando, 239. 
Parsons, Theophilus, 2l8. 
-Parton, James, 468. 



480 INDEX TO NAMES AND SUBJECTS. 

Partridge, James R., 372, ^y^. 

Penafil, Manuel, 242. 

Persuhn, Charles P., 366, 451. 

Peruvian Delinquencies, 204--271. 

Phillimore, Robert Joseph, 136. 

Poem on the Ship Canal, by Dr. Lieber, 321. 

Prevost & Co., of Lima, 182, 189, 192, 193, 243. 

Protest against^Peru and Bolivia, 204. 

Pufiendorf, Samuel, 135. 

Quinones, Jose, 242. 

Railway, The Three Americas Longitudinal, 9-20, 378-476. 

Receipt given to the Bolivian Government, 170, 171. 

Request, A Brother's, 440. 

Reynolds, Robert M., 161, 168, 170, 174, 177, 194, 195, 242, 263^ 

Rospigliosi, J. C. Julio, 223. 

Ruger Brothers, 359. 

Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, 80, 123, 154, 438. 

Settlement (?) of the Colton Claim, 49, 168. 

Seward, Frederick W., 194, 410, 447, 450. 

Seward, William H., 141. 

Sherman, William T., 468. 

Ship Canal across Central America. 319-333. 

Smith, John Cotton, 84, 119. 

South America, 9-20. 

St. Louis, Present an'd Future, 467-470. 

St. Louisans, Three, 462, 475. 

Sumner, Charles, 468. 

Supreme Court of Peru, 232, 235. 

Tehuan tepee, Isthmus of, 324, ^;^2. 

Terraza, Melchor, 78. 

Thi-ee Americas Longitudinal Railway, 9-20, 378-476. 

Thompson, Frank, 369.' 

Thompson, Richard W., 278, 286. 

Trade with Spanish America, 278-285. 

Upton, Benjamin, 396. 

Vargas, Lorenzo, 44. 

Vattel, Emmerich, 136. 

Wheaton, Henry, 141. 

White, Juhus, 275. 

Wildman, Richard, 137. 

W^oolsey, Theodore D., 126, 142. 



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